,  t 


Foreign  Missi 


Protestantism. 


PROTESTANT   FOREIGN   MISSIONS 
THEIR  PRESENT  STATE. 


DAM.ANTYNi;,    HANSON    AND   CO. 
EDINBUROIC    AND    LONDON 


Protestant  Foreign  Missions 


THEIR     PRESENT     STATE. 


A  UNIVERSAL  SURVEY. 


'  / 

THEODORE    CHRISTLIEB,    D.D.,  Ph.D., 

Professor-  of  Theology^  and  Uniz'ersiiy  Preacher^   Bonn,   Prussia. 


AUTHORIZED    TRANSLATION    FROM    THE   GERMAN 


DAVID    B.    CROOM,    M.A. 


New  York: 
anson  d.  f.  randolph  &  company 

90C    BROADWAY,    COR.    20th    STREET. 


PREFACE. 


An  extract  from  the  following  pages,  in  the  form  of 
a  Eeport,  drawn  up  at  the  request  of  the  Committee 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  was  read  at  the  General 
Conference  at  Basel,  September  5,  1879.  The  whole 
appeared  first  in  the  second  volume  of  the  "  Be- 
richte  liber  die  Yersammlungen  der  evang.  Allianz 
im  September  1879,"  pp.  665-828  (the  English 
edition  will  give  but  a  very  short  abstract  of  some 
twenty  pages),  and  afterwards  in  the  "AUgemeine 
Missions- Zeitschrift "  (Glitersloh,  Bertelsmann),  No- 
vember and  December  1879.  The  present  separate 
edition,  which  is  being  translated  into  French  and 
Dutch,  w^as  undertaken  at  the  request  of  many 
friends  from  abroad  interested  in  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions, and  is  now  presented  in  a  form  revised  and, 
in  some  places,  supplemented  and  enlarged. 


THEODORE  CHRISTLIEB. 


Bonn, 

Easter  1880. 


TABLE  OF"75T)fTENTS 


J'he  vast  extent  and  manifold  nature  of  modern  Protes- 
tant missions — The  great  difficulty  experienced  by 
those  who  M'-ould  draw  up  the  statistics  or  the  theory 
of  missions — Divisions  of  the  subject,  .        .         .         .1-4 

I.— PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

The  outward  extent  of  Protestant  missions — A  proof  that 
the  age  of  universal  missions  has  begun — Retrospect 
of  the  modest  results  of  missions  in  the  eighteenth 
century — Survey  of  the  rapid  extension  of  mission 
territory;  present  oecumenical  character,  and  the  growth 
of  the  success,  of  missions  in  our  century — Progress 
during  the  last  thirty  years,  .         .         .         .         .5-10 

Growth  of  the  missionary  spirit  at  home — Disappearance 
of  former  prejudices  in  England,  Scotland,  America, 
and  Germany — Increase  in  the  number  of  missionary 
societies ;  their  distribution  over  the  various  Christian 
countries ;  their  branch  societies  in  heathen  lands — 
The  present  compared  with  the  former  number  of  mis- 
sionaries and  assistant  labourers — The  present  total  of 
Protestant  heathen  Christians,  and  their  distribution 
over  the  principal  missionary  territories — Growth  of 
some  of  the  larger  missionary  societies,  the  number  of 
their  agents,  and  their  annual  revenue— Increase  in 
the  total  amount  contributed  towards  Protestant  mis- 
sion schools — Protestant  mission  schools,  .         .        .   11-20 


vlli  Table  of  Contents. 


PAO  R 


Circulation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  eighty  years  ago  and 
now ;  new  translations  into  at  least  226  languages  in 
the  present  century — Diversity  of  missionary  labour 
and  its  results  in  particular  fields  during  the  last  thirty 
years — The  growing  moral  influence  of  the  Gospel, 
shown  in  the  regeneration  of  heathen  races — Proof 
that  the  most  degraded  races  can  be  Christianised,  .  21-24 

The  obverse  side  of  the  picture,  in  spite  of  all  the  pro- 
mising commencements  made,  more  especially  among 
somewhat  cultivated  heathen  peoples — Increasing  diffi- 
culties of  missionary  ivork — Growth  of  Islam — Jealousy 
of  Home — Decrease  in  the  zeal  of  the  Church  at  home — 
Drficits  becoming  chronic,  ......  25-30 


II.— THE  MISSIONARY  AGENCIES  OF  THE  MOTHER 
CHURCH. 

THE  CHURCH   AT   HOME   AND  ITS  MISSIONARY  EFFORTS. 

I)ivi.sions  of  Protestantism  again  an  advantage — England 
stands  before  all  other  lands  in  missionary  efibrt — The 
National  Churches,  comparatively,  surpassed  by  the 
Free  Churches,  particularly  in  Scotland — The  inward 
reason  of  this — Missionary  activity  in  the  United 
States — General  missionary  interest  in  the  principal 
Churches  there— Missionary  eilbrt  in  Holland;  the 
number  of  its  missionary  societies  compared  with 
France  ai\d  Norway, 31  40 

Germany  and  Switzerland — The  missionary  efibrts  of  the 
German  and  Norwegian  Lutheran  Churches  compared 
witli  those  of  the  Reformed  and  United  Clmrclies — All 
the  German  societies  together  do  not  contri])ute  so 
much  as  one  of  tlie  three  great  English  societies — Tlu; 
cause  of  this — *'A  tlireefold  conversion"  necessary  for 
a  German — Unequal  division  of  missionary  interest  in 
(iermany — Stubborn  prejndires  among  the  educated— 


Table  of  Contefits, 


PAGE 


Influence  of  the  "liberal"  press  and  of  the  Beform 
Jews — Cheering  signs  of  the  growing  recognition  of 
missionary  work — A  general  survey  gives  cause  for 
shame — Diflerence  in  the  position  taken  up  by  the 
clergy, 41-51 

Necessity  of  promoting  an  interest  in  missions  by  the 
Church,  and  not  by  the  societies  only — Is  there  really 
a  lack  of  money  ? 52-54 

Practical  hints  :  missionary  interest  in  the  congregation, 
the  University,  the  ^jw^j-jzY,  and  the  Bible-class  —  A 
greater  concentration  of  interest — The  duty  of  the 
richer  congregations  and  individual  rich  members — 
Piety  alone  not  sufficient  to  make  a  missionary,        .  55-59 

The  missionary  societies  and  their  forms  of  activity— Noav 
societies  founded  since  1865 — Internal  organisation — 
Differences  in  the  training  for  missionary  service — The 
stiperintendence  of  missionaries — The  Board  of  Direc- 
tion and  the  salaries  of  missionaries — Economy  prac- 
tised among  the  German  societies — No  lack  of  agents, 
but  a  careful  selection  necessary,       ....  59-65 

Missionary  methods — Conversion  of  individuals,  and  the 
Christianising  of  whole  countries — New  jproposals  of 
other  methods— A  return  to  apostolic  practices  not 
practicable — Proposal  for  improvement  from  the  libe- 
ral camp — Buss. :  New  missionary  plans  in  the  light  of 
old  missionary  history — The  imperial  Biblical  law  for 
the  preaching  of  the  cross  —  The  need  of  capable 
and  educated  missionaries  for  the  civilised  nations  of 
heathendom — The  necessity  for  the  latter  continuing 
their  studies, 66-76 

"Why  are  there  neither  medical  missionary  societies  nor 
medical  missionaries  in  Germany  ? — Origin  and  Avork 
of  the  former  in  Scotland,  England,  and  America — 
Their  growing  importance  for  missionary  work — 
Female  missionary  societies  in  England  and  Scotland 
for  the  education  of  heathen  women,  and  the  Berlin 
Ladies'  Association — The  result :  the  present  position 
of  missionary  societies, 76-83 


Table  of  Contents. 


III._WORK    AMONG    THE    HEATHEN. 

A  R  R  A  N  G  E  .^I  E  N  T    OF    MATERIALS. 
AMONG  UNCIVILISED  PEOPLES. 

PA  OR 

Commencements  in  Australia— Vx(t%(i\\i  state  of  Englisli 
missions  in  New  Zealand,  of  the  London  and  Dutch 
mission  in  New  Guinea,  of  tlie  last-named  society  in 
Celebes  (Minahassa)  and  Java,  of  the  Rhenish  mission 
in  Borneo  and  Sumatra 83-88 

Success  of  Protestant  missions  in  the  South  Seas — Poly- 
nesia now  almost  wholly  Christianised — Labours  of  the 
London  Society,  Wesleyans,  and  American  Board  there 
— The  Sandwich  Islands  a  Protestant  land — Missions 
of  the  Hawaii  Association,  and  of  the  London  Society 
in  Mikronesia—Ylair\c^i  work  of  several  English  mis- 
sionary societies  in  3Tela)icsia— Success  of  the  Wes- 
leyans in  Fiji — Christianising  of  tlie  Loyaltrj  Islands 
— Difliculties  on  the  New  Hebrides— The  new  jdan 
adopted  by  the  English  Episcopal  mission  —  Total 
number  of  tliose  converted, 88-93 

Protestant  mission  work  among  the  uncivilised  pcojiles  of 
America — The  Danes  and  Moravians  in  Greenland  and 
Labrador — Wesleyan  and  Anglican  missions  in  Canada 
and  the  Hudson's  Bay  Territory— The  work  of  the 
CJjurch  Missionary  Society — Columbia:  Metlakalithi 
a  civilised  Christian  town  in  the  v^'UdcrncHs- A  lashka 
— American  missions  among  the  remnant  Indian  tribes 
f>f  tJic  United  States — A  new  turn  for  the  better — 
Progress  of  civilisation  and  the  Gospel  among  them — 
Evangelisation  of  the  Negroes  in  the  United  States,  93-101 

'J'he  present  state  of  Protestant  missions  in  the  West 
Indies  and  Central  America — Tlie  Moravians  on  the 
Mosquito  Coast— The  Propagation  Society  in  British 
Guiana — Growth  and  decrease  of  the  Moravian  mis- 
sion   in  Surinam;   in  the  Danish  and   English    West 


Table  of  Contents.  xi 

PAGE 

Indies;  training  of  the  congregations  to  self-support 
— The  English  missions  there ;  strength  of  the  AVes- 
leyan  and  Anglican  missions  —  Jamaica  substan- 
tially a  Protestant  country — English  missions  on.  the 
southern  extremity  of  South  America — Results,  .  101-106 
State  of  missions  in  Africa — Pressing  forward  from  "with- 
out to  within — Three  Protestant  missionary  territories 

—  West  Africa  —  Several  small  commencements  — 
Larger  territories  ;  English  missions  in  Sierra  Leone  ; 
— American  missions  in  Liberia — Wesleyan,  Basel, 
and  North  German  missions  on  the  Gold  and  Slave 
Coasts — English  missions  on  Yoruha  Land  and  on 
the  Niger, 106-111 

South  Africa  —  A  Finnish  mission  in  Ovampoland ;  a 
Rhenish  mission  in  Hereroland,  Namaqualand, 
and  Cape  Colony — The  Cape  the  basis  of  missionary 
operations — The  Loudon  missions  among  the  Betjuans 
— The  Berlin,  Paris,  Hermannsburger,  and  Swedish 
in  the  Cape,  among  the  Caffres  in  Orange  State,  in 
Basutoland,  the  Transvaal,  Natcd,  and  Zululand — 
The  Moravians  and  Wesleyans  among  the  CafFres,  &c. 
— The  Lovedale  Institute  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land— The  United  Presbyterian,  American,  and  Nor- 
wegian missions — Total  number  of  converts, .         .11  i-i  18 

East  and  East-Central  Africa — Madagascar  the  crown  of 
the  London  mission — Other  missions  there — Mauritius 

—  English  missions  on  the  coast  of  Zanzibar — Advance 
to  the  Interior  Lakes  of  East  Africa,  the  Scotch  on 
Nyassa,  the  London  Society  on  Tanganyika,  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  at  Victoria  Nyanza — Com- 
mencements, Abyssinia,  .....   1 18-126 

Severed  7'esidts  of  experience  taken  from  labour  among  un- 
civilised peoples — The  duty  of  the  missionary — Danger 
of  pride  of  education — Method  of  instruction — Neces- 
sity of  a  lengthened  course  of  instruction  previous  to 
baptism — Study  of  the  language  and  literary  labour 
— Instruction  in  schools,  and  employment  of  native 
talent — Care  to  be  taken  in  insisting  upon  outward 


xli  Table  of  Contents, 


PAGE 

culture — Mission'iudustrics — Christianisation  not  dena- 
tionalisation— Europeanising  a  mistake  ! — Thoroughly 
capable  men  necessarj^ — Relief  to  the  funds  at  home 
by  more  attention  being  paid  to  the  training  up  of 
native  congregations  to  self-sujiport,  self-government, 
and  self-extension, 126-142 


AMO^'G   CIVILISED   TEOPLES. 

Greater  difficulty  of  mission  work — Protestant  missions 
in  the  lands  of  Islam — American  missions  in  the 
TurJcish  empire  —  Legal  hindrances  to  full  religious 
freedom  among  the  INIohammedans — Evangelisation 
of  the  Oriental  Churches — INIissions  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  of  America  in  E(jyj)t — Mission  of 
the  American  Board  in  the  West-Central  and  East 
Turkish  provinces ;  establishment  of  a  Protestant 
Oriental  Church  among  the  Arinenians — Scottish  Free 
and  American  schools  and  missions  in  Syria — INIission 
work  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  in  Palestine,  142-151 

American  missions  among  the  Ncstorians — Commence- 
ments in  Persia,  among  the  Moslems  in  the  Punjauh, 
and  the  Afghans — Translations  of  the  Bible  ;  circula- 
tion of  the  Arabic  Bible — The  growing  repute  of  Pro- 
testant (without  pictures)  Christianity — Moral  influ- 
ence of  Protestant  Churches — Importance  of  medical 
missions  in  the  East — Hopeful  prospects,       .         .   151-158 

State  of  Protestant  missions  in  India — Their  present  ex- 
tent— Progress  of  their  success  ;  its  distribution  among 
the  several  societies — Sudden  development  of  par- 
ticular provinces — Unexampled  growth  within  the  last 
tiro  years  of  English  and  American  missions  in 
Southern  India — Total  increase,     ....    158-164 

TIce  several  lands  of  India  according  to  th(;ir  productive- 
ness— English,  American,  (ierman,  and  Scottish  mis- 
sions in  Southern  India — State  of  missions  in  Ceylon — 
The  American  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  and  the 
Propagation    Society   in    Biirmah   (Knrcncs) — Bcnrjal 


Table  of  Contents,  xlii 

PAGE 

and  the  North-West  Provinces ;  the  Gossner  mission 
among  the  Kohls ;  English  and  Norwegio-Danish 
Santal  missions — The  Church  Missionary  Society  in 
the  Punjanb  and  Sindh  the  American  Presbyterians, 
&c. — The  West  Coast:  Scottish  missions  in  Bajpoo- 
tana ;  work  in  Bombay  and  the  Central  Provinces,  by 
English,  Scottish,  American,  and  the  Basel  Missionary 
Societies, 164-172 

Character  of  those  who  are  converted  as  regards  social 
position,  religion,  language,  and  culture  ;  distinction 
between  the  Aborigines  and  the  Aryan  Hindoos — Slow 
undermining  of  Hindooism — The  bond  which  holds  it 
together — Caste — Removal  of  this  social  fetter  by  means 
of  missions  and  the  introduction  of  Christian  morality 
— Becent  opinions — Success  commencing,      .        .  172-179 

The  schools  of  India — Irreligious  government  schools — Im- 
possibility of  neutrality — Want  of  religious  decision  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people — More  Christian  elementary 
schools  and  not  academies  ! — Necessity  for  continuing 
mission  schools— Their  great  success  and  their  limits,  179-184 

More  evangelisation — Zenana  missions — 3Iissionary  press 
and  advancing  unbelief — Mission  industries — Inward 
organisation  of  a  community  ;  necessity  of  considering 
national  peculiarities  before  adopting  denominational 
forms — Growing  moral  influence  of  missions — Decay 
of  Brahmanism — Presentiment  of  its  fall — Confession 
of  a  Brahmin 184-195 

Mission  commencements  in  Malacca,  Siam  and  Laos,  .  195-196 

Position  of  Protestant  missions  in  China — Its  recent 
origin — Rapid  increase  of  workers — Their  unequal 
division  into  English,  American,  and  German — Pre- 
sent results — Survey  of  success  hitherto  gained  in  the 
various  provinces:  Germans,  English,  and  Americans 
in  Kwang-tung  and  Fuh-kien — Presbyterian  mission 
in  Formosa — English  and  American  missions  in  the 
remaining  Eastern  provinces — The  Gospel  in  Peking 
— Missions  commencing  in  the  interior  provinces  and 
in  Manchuria, 196-206 


xlv  Table  of  Contents, 

PAGE 

VxQ?,(ixvi  freedom  to  travel  in  Cliina — Advance  of  the  Gos- 
pel by  means  of  the  China  Inland  Mission  to  the 
West,  and  of  the  Irish  Presbyterians  to  the  North — 
Greater  respect  entertained  by  the  people  for  Protes- 
tant missionaries  —  Latter  s  literary  efforts  —  Wide- 
hearted  Catholicity  of  the  various  Protestant  missions 
— The  native  Chinese  Christians — DifTerence  in  the 
fields  of  labour— The  last  famine — Effects  of  Christian 
charity — Tlie  opium  curse — Protest  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance — Brigliter  prospects,         ....  206-215 

State  of  Protestant  missions  in  Japan — Its  commencement 
by  American  missionaries — Formation  of  congregations 
since  1S72 — Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Union,  the 
American  Board,  and  the  other  English  and  American 
societies  —  Present  fruits  —  The  land  only  partially 
opened  up  —  Advancing  scepticism  —  Tlie  sun  still 
rising, 215-224 

IV.-ONE  OR  TWO  HINTS  AND  WISHES  WITH  RE- 
GARD  TO  THE  DUTIES  AND  AIMS  OF  THE 
IMMEDIATE   FUTURE. 

A  word  for  the  friends  of  missions  at  home — Well-meant 
suggestions,  and  dear  experiments  of  impatience — The 
formation  of  a  missionary  scioice — Collection  of  mate- 
rials for  a  theory  of  missionary  methods — Necessity  for 
theological  students  extending  their  views,   .        .  224-227 

With  rrgard  to  the  mutual  relation  of  the  different  societies 
— They  should  seek  to  learn  more  from  each  other — 
Examples — Little  notice  taken  of  the  labours  of  other 
societies,  and  of  the  general  progress  of  missions — The 
necessity  of  extending  one's  views  beyond  that  of  a  jmr- 
ticular  CJiurch  to  the  progress  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
— Let  general  missionary  conferences  be  continued — 
Wishes  for  missioyiary  periodicals  and  magazines — A 
more  uniform  treatment  of  missionary  statistics — A 
sharper  distinction  should  be  dra^vn  between  foreign 
missions  and  the  work  of  evangelisation  in  Christian 
lands,  in  the  reports  of  the  Methodists  and  Baptists,  227-233 


Table  of  Contents. 


XV 


Uniformity  of  practice  in  general  questions  should  be  aimed 
at — Division  of  labour  should  he  made  in  a  brotherly 
spirit — Many  mistakes  made  at  the  commencement  of 
a  mission ;  also  with  reference  to  fields  already  occu- 
pied—Denominational interests  should  disappear  in 
presence  of  the  common  duty — Recognition  of  our  own 
powers,  and  the  limitations  of  them,  in  presence  of  the 
national  peculiarities  of  heathen  peoples — Union  of  all 
in  one  imperial  army — Quality  necessary  more  than 
quantity  in  the  selection  of  representatives — In  German 
missions,  self-support  should  be  more  insisted  upon — 
The  former  means  and  duty  of  an  universal  mission — 
A  Christianity  which  overcomes  the  world  its  own  best 
apology — The  full  harvest  approaches,  .        .        .  233-244 


r.^% 


P  H  X  S  G  ia»  A 'ii'i^' 


ERRATA. 

Page  59,  line  3  from  foot,  for  **  Brecklun  "  read  "  Brecklum. 
,,     di,  note  I, /or  "  1S69  "  read  "  1867." 


propertF 

PKIITCETOII 
'>tc;.  SEP  lijou 

THSOLOGIC&L 

PROTESTANT   FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

THEIR  PRESENT  STATE. 


Since  the  commencement  of  tlie  nineteenth  century 
Protestant  missions  have  been  spreading  among 
peoples  of  every  race  and  in  every  possible  state 
of  civilisation ;  they  have  been  growing  ever  vaster 
in  extent  and  in  plan  of  operation,  while  they  are 
always  becoming  more  difficult  to  estimate  in  their 
effects  and  fruits,  in  their  leavening  influence  on  the 
faith  and  life  of  the  heathen,  as  well  as  in  their 
reflex  action  on  the  Church  at  home. 

There  is,  at  the  present  day,  perhaps  no  one  who  is 
equally  familiar  with  all  the  operations  of  the  nume- 
rous societies  of  the  Old  and  JSTew  Worlds,  and,  it 
may  now  be  added,  of  Australia,  Africa,  and  the  South 
Seas.  Many  have  a  thorough  acquaintance  with 
particular  schemes,  not  a  few  have  been  able  to  take 
a  survey  of  much,  but  there  is  hardly  any  one  who 
is,  so  to  speak,  sure  that  he  has  all  the  cords  in  hand, 


Protestant  Foj'eiPii  Missions 


i> 


— such  13  tlie  variety  of  material  presented  by  the 
different  missionary  magazines,  and  so  quickly  do 
exact  statistics  change  with  the  arrival  of  every 
mail. 

The  cjreat  creneral  conferences,  like  those  of  Liver- 
pool  in  i860  and  Mildmay  (London)  in  1878,  and  of 
the  special  centres  of  labour,  Allahabad,  for  India, 
in  1872,  and  Shanghai,  for  China,  in  1877,  have 
doubtless  rendered  comparatively  easy  a  survey  of 
the  chief  fields  of  missionary  enterprise  and  what  has 
been  accomplished  in  them.  But  the  great  outstand- 
incj  features  divert  attention  from  what  seems  to  be 
of  less  importance,  and  the  labours  of  the  large 
societies  throw  into  the  shade  those  of  the  smaller;  so 
that,  whatever  may  be  known  of  particular  spheres, 
a  complete  acquaintance  with  all  the  different  fields 
of  missionary  labour  is  not  obtained.  No  account 
is  here  taken  of  private  missionaries,  now  not  un- 
common, who  labour  independently^  unconnected 
with  any  society,  and  of  whose  work  reports  can  be 
liad  only  accidentally. 

But  many  though  the  difTiculties  be  for  the  his- 
torian or  the  compiler  of  statistics,  they  are  much 
greater  for  him  who  attempts  to  form  a  theory  of 
missions.  His  endeavour  it  must  be  to  obtain  a 
complete  survey,  f:0  that  by  comparing  the  principles 
and  methods  according  to  which  each  society  is  c(m- 
ducted,  and  having  regard  to  tliem  in  their  effects 


Their  Present  State.  3 

and  fruits,  he  may  deduce  the  results  of  experi- 
ence as  guides  for  future  action.  But  here  printed 
material,  generally  accessible,  is  totally  wanting; 
the  majority  of  societies  contenting  themselves  with 
givincr  their  accents  oral  or  written  instructions  for 
each  special  province  of  labour. 

The  reader,  then,  will  kindly  take  into  considera- 
tion the  enormous  difficulties,  and  in  fairness  not 
expect  in  the  figures  given  more  than  approximation 
to  correctness  (except  in  the  official  figures,  which  I 
have  taken  much  trouble  to  collect),  nor  in  the  hints 
on  the  present  methods  of  operation  more  than  one 
or  two  characteristic  features,  imperfect  and  incom- 
plete "apergus"  with  regard  to  the  chief  burning 
questions.  Especially  not  from  one  who  himself  has 
never  laboured  directly  in  the  foreign  field,  but  has 
only  succeeded,  from  time  to  time,  in  ascending,  as 
in  a  ''ballon  captif,"  above  the  church  spires  and 
gaining  somewhat  of  a  general  survey,  and  who 
would  now  invite  the  reader  to  accompany  him  on 
a  journey  round  the  world  swifter  than  on  wing  of 
bird. 

Our  theme.  The  Present  State  of  Protestant  Mis- 
sions to  the  Heathen,  naturally  embraces — (i.)  The 
missionary  efforts  at  horne,  that  lever  force  which 
from  her  own  midst  the  mother  Church  has  brought 
into  play,  in  order  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
gigantic  work ;  and  (2.)  The  labours  of  missionaries 


Protcsta}it  Foreio^n  Missiofis 


<!> 


abroad;  both  of  these  accordmg  to  the  different 
branches  of  method  and  result.  In  order  then  to 
accomplish,  at  least  in  outline,  the  task  imposed 
upon  me,  I  shall,  after  rapidly  contrasting  the  past 
and  the  present  of  missions,  exhibit  in  their  most 
prominent  features  the  missionary  agencies  of  the 
mother  Churehes,  showing  their  strength  and  their 
plan  of  operation.  Then,  conducting  the  reader  into 
tlie  heathen  world,  I  shall  show  him  what  has  been 
accomplished  there,  taking  it  according  to  certain 
groups, — from  time  to  time  letting  fall  hi7its  and 
makiiiiT  ohservations  for  guidance  in  the  labours  and 
ai?ns  of  the  immediate  future,  as  these  are  suggested 
by  the  experience  of  the  methods  hitherto  employed. 
And  I  think  I  shall  serve  my  purpose  best,  if,  in 
the  consideration  of  particular  fields  of  labour,  I 
enter  less  into  statistical  detail,  and  lay  more  stress 
on  tliose  practical  and  technical  points,  on  the  right 
treatment  of  which  a  further  increase  of  prosperity 
seems  chiefly  to  depend,  and  with  regard  to  which, 
therefore,  ■  a  jjeneral  understandincj  is  much  to  be 
desired. 


Theii^  Present  State. 


I. — Past  and  Peesent. 

The  very  announcement  of  onr  subject  invites  to  a 
comparison  of  the  past  with  the  present.  And  truly 
the  present,  as  compared  with  the  former  state  of 
Protestant  foreign  missions,  affords  just  ground  for 
thankfulness  and  hope.  We  live  in  an  age  of  mis- 
sions, such — the  mere  outward  extent  of  them  shows 
it — as  the  Christian  Church  has  never  seen.  After 
the  evangelisation  by  the  primitive  Church  of  the 
regions — for  the  most  part  civilised — on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean,  the  Christianising  of  the  rude, 
barbarous  peoples  and  tribes  of  Europe  by  the 
mediaeval  mission, — and  the  advance  of  Christianity 
into  some  of  the  colonies  and  kingdoms  of  Eastern 
Asia  in  the  sixteenth  century, — the  age  of  luiivcrsal 
missions  has  been  dawning  ever  more  generally  and 
ever  with  increasing  clearness.  The  cross  of  Christ 
is  being  lifted  up  no  longer  in  a  few  non-Christian 
lands,  but  in  every  one,  among  all  races  of  men, — 
the  comparatively  civilised  as  well  as  the  morally 
most  degraded  ;  in  colonies,  as  in  independent  heathen 
lands ;  in  hundreds  of  languages  and  dialects.  Those 
provinces  of  the  Church,  too,  once  lost  to  her  and 
crushed  beneath  the  bloody  heel  of  Islam,  by  the  light 
of  the  Gospel  are  now  being  awakened  to  newness 
of  life.     The  following  was,  on  the  whole  the  modest 


ProicsUiiit  Foreioii  missions : 


<b 


result  of  missionary  enterprise  in  the  eighteentli  cen- 
tury, in  spite  of  its  many  heroic  and  never-to-he- 
forgotten  pioneers:  — 

One  or  two  somewliat  artificial,  and,  consequently,' 
not  very  firmly-rooted  Dutch  missions  in  Ceylon  and 
the  Moluccas ;  those  of  individual  Americans  and 
the  Moravians,  dragging  out  a  lahorious  existence 
amid  the  confusion  of  continual  warfare,  among  the 
Indians  of  Xortli  America;  those  of  the  Halle- 
Danish  Society  iu  a  few  districts  of  East  India,  full 
of  promise,  hut  under  the  deadening  influence  of 
rationalism,  gradually  becoming  weaker  ;  the  labours 
of  the  Korwcgio-Swedish  Society,  conducted  with 
varying  success  in  Laph\nd ;  the  flourishing  stations 
of  the  Moravians  and  Wesleyans  in  AYest  India  and 
Surinam  ;  one  or  two  feeble  liglits  of  the  Gospel  in 
ice-bound  Greenland  and  Labrador,  broui^lit  thither 
by  Norwegians,  Danes,  and  more  especially  by  the 
Moravians;  and  the  missions  of  the  Moravians  at 
the  Cape,  small,  and  soon  extinguished. 

And  now  ?  The  Islands  of  the  Pacific,  tlirown 
open  to  tlie  Gos])el  witli  tlie  turn  of  the  century, 
have  gradually  and  on  all  sides  been  taken  up  by 
England  and  America,  more  especially  through  the 
employment  of  native  agents,  till  whole  groups  of 
them  —  indeed  all  Ahdayish  Polynesia  —  are  now 
almost  entirely  Christianised  ;  whilst  in  IMelanesia 
and  MikroTK'^ia  (ho  firld  of  missionary  labour  is  being 


Their  Present  State.  7 

every  year  extended.  The  gates  of  British  East 
India  have  been  opened,  bit  by  bit,  first  to  English 
and  then  to  foreign  missionaries ;  and  this  immense 
kingdom — from  Cape  Comorin  to  the  Pimjaub  and  up 
to  the  Himalayas,  where  the  Gospel  is  now  knocking 
at  the  door  of  Thibet — is  to-day  studded  with  sta- 
tions, more  thickly  than  that  network  of  missions 
which,  towards  the  end  of  the  first  century,  encom- 
passed the  empire  of  Eome. 

The  largest  and  many  of  the  smaller  islands  also 
of  the  Indian  Aechipelago — Sumatra,  Java,  Borneo, 
Celebes,  and  now  New  Guinea — possess  evangelical 
missions,  partly  on  the  sea-coast,  and  partly  far  in 
the  interior.  Burmah  and,  in  part,  Siam  have  been 
opened  to  the  Gospel.  That  most  powerful  and  most 
thickly  populated  of  heathen  lands,  China,  compelled 
to  fling  back  her  gates  ever  wider,  has  been  traversed 
by  several  pioneers  of  the  Gospel,  up  to  Thibet  and 
Burmah.  The  half  of  her  provinces,  in  all  the  principal 
points  from  Hong-Kong  and  Canton  to  Peking  and 
Manchuria,  are  in  contact  with  a  chain  of  stations, 
thin  though  it  be ;  while  Protestant  missionaries 
have  been  sent  to  her  teeming  population  in  other 
lands,  in  Australia  and  America.  Japan,  granting 
in  her  eagerness  for  reform,  an  entrance  to  the  Gos- 
pel, has  been  speedily  seized  upon  by  English  and 
American  missionaries,  who  can  now,  after  compara- 
tively short  labour,  point  to  several  dozens  of  orga- 


8  Protestant  Forcion  Missions : 

nised  Christian  communities.  Even  the  Aborigines  of 
Australia  have  in  one  or  two  places  been  brought 
into  contact  with  the  Gospel.  In  the  lands  of 
Islam,  from  the  Balkans  to  Bagdad,  from  Egypt 
to  Persia,  new  centres  of  evangelisation  for  Chris- 
tians and  Mohammedans  have  been  established,  by 
means  of  theological  seminaries  and  Christian  medical 
missions,  conducted,  for  the  most  part,  by  Americans. 
The  cradle  of  the  Gospel,  Palestine,  from  Bethlehem 
to  Tripoli  and  tlie  northern  slopes  of  Lebanon,  is 
studded  with  Protestant  schools,  and  possesses  seve- 
ral Protestant  churches.  Africa  is  being  attacked  in 
ever  stronger  force,  from  west,  south,  and  east.  On 
the  west,  from  the  Senegal  to  the  Gaboon,  and  just 
lately  as  far  as  the  Congo,  the  coast  is  occupied 
with  stations  from  Britain,  Basel,  and  Bremen. 
South  Afkica,  at  the  extreme  end  of  it,  is  being 
evangelised  by  a  host  of  German,  Dutch,  English, 
Scottish,  Erench,  and  Scandinavian  societies.  On 
both  sides,  as  in  the  centre,  Protestant  missions  are 
pu.shing  f(jrward — aliliougli  war  has  given  a  momen- 
tary clieck  to  tlieir  progress — farther  and  fartlier 
north :  on  the  left,  beyond  the  great  Fish  Bay,  into 
the  Hereroland  and  Ovampoland  ;  on  the  right,  as  far 
as  Zululand  and  Delagoa  Bay  ;  in  tlie  centre,  uj)  to 
the  Betjuans  and  Basutos.  On  the  cast,  over  Mada- 
gascar, after  prolonged  storm,  tlie  sun  of  the  Gospel 
breaks  brightly,  never  again  to  be  obscured.    Though 


Their  Present  State.  9 

there  are  one  or  two  foreposts  along  the  coast,  from 
Zanzibar  and  the  Nile  to  Abyssinia,  it  is  chiefly  on 
the  road  which  the  great  Scotchman  opened  up  that 
there  has  been  a  prodigious  advance  of  Scottish,  Eng- 
lish, and  now,  too,  American  missions  and  of  civi- 
lisation, into  the  very  heart  of  the  Dark  Continent, 
to  the  central  lakes  of  East  Africa,  till,  now,  the 
jealousy  of  Rome  has  been  excited  to  follow  the 
example.  In  America  the  immense  plains  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Tereitory,  from  Canada,  beyond  the 
Eocky  Mountains,  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  have  not 
only  been  traversed  by  English  Episcopal  and 
Wesleyan  missionaries — in  keen  competition  with 
the  Eoman  Catholics — but  have  been  opened  up  to 
the  Gospel  by  the  rapidly-increasing  Indian  missions. 
In  the  United  States  hundreds  of  thousands  of  freed 
negroes  have  formed  themselves  into  Protestant  con- 
gregations. And,  the  work  of  evangelisation,  carried 
on  among  them  by  the  Christian  Churches,  seems 
to  awaken  new  hopes  for  the  future  of  at  least  some 
of  the  remaining  Indian  tribes.  In  Central  America 
and  the  West  Indies,  as  far  as  these  are  under  the 
mother  countries,  Protestant  missions  have  spread 
from  island  to  island ;  whilst  on  the  Mosquito  coast, 
in  the  opposite  mainland  of  Honduras,  and  in  British 
and  Dutch  Guiana,  they  are  gaining  an  ever  firmer 
hold.  Lastly,  the  southern  extremities  of  the  Ame- 
rican   continent,  the   Falkland   Islands    Tierra   del 


lo  Protestant  Forcjoii  ]\Iissions: 

Fuego,  and  Patagonia,  are  already  tinged  witli  the  first 
streaks  of  the  dawning  Gospel,  missionaries,  agents 
of  the  South  American  Missionary  Society  (London), 
having  recently  penetrated  into  the  interior,  to  the  ter- 
ritories on  the  banks  of  the  Amazon  and  even  to  the 
Indians  of  Brazil.  In  truth,  then,  this  rapid  survey 
shows  that  Protestant  missions  are,  in  extent,  literally 
oecumenical,  and  that  the  evangelistic  efforts  of  our 
age  are  but  the  beginning  of  a  worldwide  mission ! 

If  we  confine  ourselves  to  a  retrospect,  not  of 
seventy  or  eighty,  but  of  twenty  or  thirty  years, 
and  look  at  the  new  countries  annexed  in  Turke}^ 
East  India,  Japan,  the  Soutli  Seas,  in  Africa,  and 
America,  we  will  find  that  the  amount  of  missionary 
labour  lias  not  been  doubled  merely  but  quadrupled. 
Large  new  splieres  of  enterprise,  too,  have  been  02")ened 
up  in  territories  formerly  occupied.  Of  these  I  would 
mention  only  the  work  among  the  female  population 
of  India.  "  If  any  one  had  told  me  twenty-five  years 
ago,"  writes  that  veteran  of  Indian  missions,  Mr. 
Lkui'OLT,  "  that  not  only  sliould  we  have  free  access 
to  the  natives  in  their  houses,  but  that  zenanas  would 
be  open  in  cities  like  Benares,  Lucknow,  Agra,  Delhi, 
Amritsir,  and  Laliore,  and  that  European  ladies,  with 
their  native  assistants,  would  Ijc  admitted  to  teach 
tlie  Word  of  God  in  tliem,  I  would  liave  replied, 
'All  things  are  possible  to  God,  but  I  do  not  expect 
such  a  glorious  event  in  my  day!'     But  what  lias 


Their  Present  State.  1 1 

God  done  ?  !More  than  we  expected  and  prayed 
for  !     His  name  be  praised  ! "  * 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  from  Calcutta  to  Peshawur, 
and  in  the  south  down  as  far  as  Palamcotta,  there 
are  1200  zenanas,  to  whom  the  agents  of  the  Indian 
Female  ISTormal  School  and  Instruction  Society 
alone — not  to  speak  of  others — have  access.  And 
with  this  infinite  extension  of  the  work  abroad,  there 
has  been  an  increased  power  in  the  machinery  at 
home — a  growth  of  the  missionary  sjnrit  and  of  mis- 
sionary  societies  in  moral  and  material  strength. 

Times,  like  those  of  ninety  years  ago,  are  gone  by, 
when  that  pioneer  of  English  missions  in  the  East 
Indies,  Dr.  Cakey,  after  proposing  "  that  a  discussion 
take  place  on  the  Church's  duty  with  regard  to 
missions,"  was  peremptorily  commanded  by  the 
astonished  conference,  to  be  silent ;  f  or  when  the 
Scottish  General  Assembly,  about  eighty  years  ago, 
during  its  first  discussion  on  the  subject  of  mis- 
sions, declared  a  similar  motion  to  be  fanatical  and 
absurd — dangerous,  indeed,  and  revolutionary — till 
old  Dr.  John  Ehskine,  rising  up,  and  laying  his 
trembling  hand  on  the  Bible,  hurled,  like  a  thunder- 
bolt, among  his  awestruck  hearers  the  commands  and 


*  See  "Church  Mission-Intelligencer,"  April  1879,  p.  197. 

t  Marshmann,  "Life  and  Times  of  Carey,"  i.  p.  lO  ;  Christ- 
lieb,  "Der  Missionsberuf  des  Evangelischen  Deutschlauds,"  p. 
39. 


1 2  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

promises  with  regard  to  missions,  and  thus  recalled 
them  to  a  sense  of  their  long-neglected  duty  ;  * 
or  when  a  German  professor  of  theology,  in  1798, 
explained  the  existence  of  a  missionary  society  in 
Ostfriesland,  on  the  principle  that  German  culture 
liad  not  yet  penetrated  to  that  remote  corner  ;  f  or 
when  that  band  of  pious  students  in  Andover  (Mas- 
sachusetts), headed  by  Adoniram  Judson  (the  sub- 
sequent missionary  to  Burmah),  wxre  obliged  to  ask 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Congregationalists  of 
^Arassachusetts  whether  the  idea  of  missions,  which 
filled  their  hearts,  was  "visionary  and  impracticable;" 
and  if  not,  whether,  in  putting  it  into  execution,  they 
miglit  expect  any  help  from  America.^ 

All  Scotland  now  is  proud  of  a  missionary  like  Dr. 
IJUFF.  Kow  she  has  raised  lier  great  and  peaceful  con- 
queror of  Africa  on  a  pedestal  in  lier  capital — Bible 
and  axe  in  hand — a  speaking  proof  of  the  newly-estab- 
lished principle,  that  culture  can  make  no  progress 
apart  from  missions  and  the  Gospel.  Now,  followed 
by  England,  slie  sends  wliole  missionary  colonies  into 
tlie  lieart  of  Africa,  to  perpetuate  the   services  of 


*  Dr.  Wallace  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  London  Misaionary 
Society,  see  *' Clironicles  of  the  London  JliKsioiiary  Society,"  June 

1875,  p.  130,  m- 

+  W.irneck,  "Die  Christliche  Mission,"  1879,  p.  28,  sqq. 
+  Tracy,  "History  of  tlie  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  MiasiouH,"  p.  26. 


Their  Present  State.  1 3 

Livingstone.  England,  too,  has  now  proved  to  every 
man — a  triumph  this  hero  prophesied  years  be- 
fore— that  the  mocking  smile  over  "Exeter  Hall" 
was  a  risiis  sardonicus ;  *  while  it  is  with  respect 
and  appreciation  that  her  political  press,  for  pru- 
dential reasons,  speaks  of  the  labours  of  the  great 
missionary  societies.  Now,  America  is  before  all 
other  lands,  England  alone  excepted,  in  her  interest 
in  missions  and  in  liberality  towards  them,  and 
some  of  her  great  missionary  societies  have  no 
difficulty  in  supplying  their  need  for  workers  from 
the  theological  students  of  the  universities.  There 
are  now  in  all  Protestant  lands  missionary  societies, 
great  and  small,  firmly  rooted  in  the  life  of  the  Church 
at  home  by  means  of  countless  associations.  And, 
what  fifty  years  ago  was  a  rare  experiment,  annual 
missionary  festivals,  in  thousands  of  towns  and  vil- 
lages, have  become  an  institution  dear  to  the  heart  of 
the  Protestant  people.  Now,  here  and  there  at  least, 
lectures  on  the  history  of  missions  are  being  intro- 
duced into  the  German  universities ;  and  by  many 
"liberal"  theologians  even,  Christianity  is  recognised 
as  essentially  a  missionary  religion,  and  missions 
acknowledged  to  be  "  a  highly  characteristic  and 
significant  phenomenon  of  the  Christianity  of  the 


*  Livingstone,  *'  Missionary  Sacrifices,"  see  the  "  Catholic  Pres- 
byterian," January  1 879,  p.  32. 


14  Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

present  day," — their  justification  is  thus,  in  x^'inciple, 
proved.* 

Still,  the  immense  progress  of  the  missionary  idea 
within  the  limits  of  Protestantism  is  best  seen  from 
one  or  two  tangible  figures.  At  the  close  of  the  la^st 
century  there  were  only  seven  Protestant  mission- 
ary societies,  i^roperly  so  called.  Of  these  three  only 
(the  Propagation  Society,  which,  however,  laboured 
chiefly  among  English  colonists,  the  Halle-Danish, 
and  the  Moravians)  had  been  at  work  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  century,  whilst  four  (the  Baptist,  the 
London  and  Church  Missionary  Societies,  and  the 
Dutch  Society  at  Rotterdam)  began  to  exist  only  in  its 
tenth  decennium.  To-day  the  seven  have,  in  Europe 
and  America  alone,  become  70,  distributed  thus  : — in 
Great  Britain, 27;  in  America,  18;  in  Germany  (includ- 
inij  Basel  and  the  most  recent  addition  in  Schleswi^- 
Ilolstein),  9 ;  in  Holland  (exclusive  of  independent 
auxiliaries),  9 ;  in  Scandinavia, Denmark,  and  Einland 
together,  5  -j-f  in  France,  i  ;  and  in  Canton  de  Vaud,  i. 
To  these  70  must  be  added,  not  only  several  inde- 
pendent  missionary  societies   in   the  colonies,  like 


*  c.^r.,  by  BusB,  "Die  Chriatliche  Mission,  ihre  prinzipielle  Be- 
reclitigting  und  praktiscbe  DurchfiilinniR,  1876,"  pp.  I-14,  34-128. 

t  Among  these  I  count  only  two  Swcdi.sh  societies  (Fostc-rland's 
Stiftelsen  and  the  Church  Misuion,  under  tlie  Archbishop  of  Up- 
sala),  aa  the  older  one,  Sveiiska  Mikh.  SiiUhkapct  has  made  over 
her  foreign  inisHions  to  tiic  Churcli  Society,  and  now  only  labours 
among  the  half-heathen  inhabitants  of  Lapland. 


Their  Present  State.  1 5 

those  in  Sierea  Leone,  at  the  Cape,  and  in  Australia, 
and  a  larc^e  number  of  smaller  ones  in  the  East  Indies, 
but  also  missionary  associations  in  the  colonies,  the 
offspring  of  English  and  American  societies,  com- 
posed of  Christians  already  won  over  from  heathen- 
ism, unassisted  and  supporting  agents  of  their  own : 
for  example,  that  child  of  the  London  Missionary 
society  in  Madagascar,  •which  receives  substantial 
support  from  the  palace  church  ;  the  Hawaiian  Evan- 
gelical Society,  a  daughter  of  the  American  Board 
in  Boston.  Indeed,  this  latter  has  a  grandchild  in 
the  Missionary  Society  in  Ponape,  in  the  Caroline 
Archipelago.* 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the  num- 
ber of  male  missionaries  in  the  field,  supported  by 
those  seven  societies  together,  amounted  to  about  170, 
of  whom  about  100  were  connected  with  the  Mora- 
vians alone.  To-day  there  are  employed  by  the  70 
societies  about  2400  ordained  Europeans  and  Ameri- 
cans ;  -f-  hundreds  of  ordained  native   preachers  (in 

*  For  further  particulars  see  the  "Basel  Missionary  Magazine," 
September  1878,  p.  353,  sqq^.  For  the  latent  accounts  of  the 
native  missionary  society  in  Madagascar,  see  Eeport  of  the  London 
M'ssionary  Society,  1879,  p.  36. 

.  t  Cf.  Warneck,  as  above,  pp.  20,  26,  31,  and  his  "Die  gegen- 
seitigen  Beziehungen  zwischen  der  modernen  Mission  und  Cultur," 
"Allg.  Conservative  Monatsschrift,  June  1877,  p.  429.  In  the 
reports  of  several  English  societies,  those  agents  too  are  counted 
as  missionaries  who  do  pastoral  work  among  the  colonists,  and  seek 
to  promote  their  cause  among  other  denominations — their  numbers 
in  the  English  and  American  *'  Missionary  Magazine  "  accordingly 
being  often  given  as  2500  to  2600. 


1 6  Prolcstant  Foreign  Missions : 

the  East  Indies  alone  there  are  more  than  1600,  and 
about  as  many  in  the  South  Seas),  upwards  of 
23,000  native  assistants,  catechists,  evangelists, 
teachers,  exclusive  of  the  countless  female  mission- 
ary agents,  private  missionaries,  lay -helpers,  colpor- 
teurs of  the  Bible  Societies  in  heathen  lands,  and 
the  thousands  of  voluntary  unpaid  Sunday-school 
teachers.* 

Eighty  years  ago,  if  I  may  venture  an  estimate, 
there  were  about  50,000  heathen  converts  under  the 
care  of  the  Protestants,  not  counting  of  course  the 
"government  Christians"  in  Ceylon,  who  quickly 
fell  away.  To-day  the  total  numhcr  of  converts  from 
heathenism  in  our  Protestant  mission  stations  may 
be  estimated  certainly  at  no  less  than  1,650,000, 
and  the  year  1878  shows  an  increase  of  about  60,000 
souls,  a  number  greater  than  the  gross  total  at  the 
beginning  of  the  century.  When  it  is  added  that 
of  this  total  about 

310,000  arc  in  the  "SVest  Indies  ; 

400,000  to  500,000  in  India  and  Further  India  ;t 

40,000  to  50,000  in  West  Africa  ; 


*  The  Annual  Report  of  the  "Webleyan  MiBsionury  Society, 
1S79,  p.  20,  returns  the  number  of  her  Sunday-school  teachers  and 
other  unpaid  agents  as  alone  amounting  to  17,493  (inclusive  of  her 
Btations  on  the  continent  of  Euiop-). 

t  Rev.  Mr.  Sherring,  in  the  Proct-edings  <if  the  General  Confer- 
ence on  Foreign  Missions  (Mildmay,  London,  1878),  p.  I20,  esti- 
inatea  the  sum  total  in  Indi.i,  Ceylon,  and  Burmah  at  4^.0,000. 


Their  Present  State,  1 7 

180,000  in  South  Africa  ;  * 
Over  240,000  in  Madagascar  ; 

90,000  in  the  Indian  Archipelago  ; 

45,000  to  50,000  in  China  ; 
Over  300,000  in  the  South  Sea  Islands — 

it  will  be  seen  that  to-day  already  a  whole  series  of 
coast-lands,  and  of  islands  more  especially,  may  be 
regarded  as  Christianised  and  won  for  the  Protestant 
Church. 

I  do  not  here  speak  of  the  astonishing  progress  of 
individual  societies,  many  of  which  have  grown  in 
the  present  century  to  be  giant  trees  whose  branches 
overshadow  half  the  earth.  The  largest  of  the  older 
missionary  societies,  that  of  the  Moravians,  had,  in 
1 80 1,  in  26  stations,  161  brothers  and  sisters  in 
its  service,  with  some  20,000  converts  from  hea- 
thenism ;f  to-day  she  has,  as  agents  327  brothers 
and  sisters,  in  95  stations,  with  73,170  converts  from 
heathendom.^ 

The  English  Church  Missionary  Society,  now  eighty 
years  old,  had — 

In  the  year  1819 26  ordained  European  missionaries. 

jj        >>      1S39 86        ,,  ,,  ,, 


*  According  to  the  Rev.   T.  G.  Carlyle,  "  South  Africa  and  its 
Mission  Fields,"  London,  1879. 

t  Reichel,    "  das  Missionswerk  der  Briiderkirche,"  Allgemeine 
Miss.-Zeitschrift,  1874,  p.  457. 

X  Missionsblatt   der    Briidergemeinde,  July  1879,   "  Ueberblic'c 
iiber  da3  Missionswerk,"  p.  48. 

B 


1 8  Protestant  Foreign  Missio7is  : 

In  the  year  1859...  177  ordained  European  missionaries. 
1879. ..207 

iSi9...no  native  preachers. 
1839... 2 
1859. ..45 
1879. ,.200      ,,  ,, 

2740  European  and  native  teachers  and  evangelists, 
185  stations,  w'ith  124,794  native  Christians.  Her 
income  amounted — 

After  20  years'  existence,  to  £2<i,ooo  ; 
„     40      ,,  ,,  tO;^67,ooo; 

,,60  ,,  ,,  to   ;^I  22,000; 

and  it  has  now  risen  to  about  £  1 85,000  or  £  200,000.* 
SimiLar  progress  is  seen  in  the  Wesleyan,  the  London, 
the  Propagation  Societies,  the  American  Board  in 
Boston,  and,  in  smaller  proportions,  in  the  German 
and  most  other  societies. 

I  would,  however,  point  to  the  following  criteria 
of  progress  : — Eighty  years  ago  the  total  sum  contri- 
buted for  Protestant  missions  hardly  amounted  to 
j^  50,000;  now  the  amount  raised  for  this  object 
is  from  ;^  1,200,000  to  ;6^i, 250,000  (about  five  times 
as  much  as  that  of  the  whole  Ptomish  Propaganda) ,"1* 
of  wliich — 


•  Ab.stract  of  tlie  ll''port  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
May  1879,  pp.  21,  24,  and  May  1878,  p.  24. 

t  '*  Jahrbiicher  ziir  Verbreitung  des  Glaubens  ;"  [their  income 
in  1878,  from  all  pirts  of  the  Catholic  world,  waus  only  about 
;i:244.200. 


Their  Present  State,  1 9 

England  contributes  ;/^70o,ooo ; 
America  contributes  ^'300,000; 
Germany  and  Switzerland,  from;^ioo,ooo  tO;£"i50,ooo. 

Eighty  years  ago  the  number  of  Protestant  mis- 
sionary  schools  cannot  have  exceeded  70;  to-day, 
according  to  reliable  statistics,  it  amounts  to  12,000, 
with  far  beyond  400,000  scholars,*  and  among  these 
are  hundreds  of  native  candidates  for  the  minis- 
try, receiving  instruction  in  some  of  the  many  High 
Schools  and  theological  seminaries.  In  India  alone 
there  are  now  2500  mission  schools,  in  Polynesia  the 
Wesleyans  alone  have  1705  day-schools,-|-  with  up- 
wards of  49,000  scholars.  In  Madagascar  the  London 
Missionary  Society  alone  has  784  day-schools,  with 
upwards  of  44,794  scholars.  %  The  English  Church 
Missionary  Society  in  her  stations  has,  altogether, 
1504  schools,  with  57,380  scholars,§  &c.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  Scriptures 
existed  in  some  50  translations,  and  were  circulated 
in  certainly  not  more  than  five  millions  of  copies. 
Since  1804 — i.e.,  since  the  founding  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society — new  translations  of  the  Bible, 
or  of  its  more  important  parts,  have  been  accom- 
plished in  at  least  226 1|  languages  and  dialects.    There 

*  Warneck,  see  above,  p.  31,  and  "  Mission  und  Cultur,"  p.  439. 
t  Report  of  Wesleyan  Methodist  Missionary  Society,  1879,  p.  195. 
+  Report  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  1879,  p.  30.  _ 

§  Abstract  of  the  Report,  &c.,  1879.     See  above. 
Some  aay  over  300. 


20  Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

are  translations  *  of  all  the  Sacred  Scriptures  into 
55,  of  the  New  Testament  into  84,  of  particular  parts 
into  Zj  languages;  and  now  the  circulation  of  tlie 
Scriptures,  in  whole  or  part,  has  amounted  to  148 
millions  of  copies.t 

Instead  of  to  the  beginning  of  the  century,  let  us 
go  back  some  thirty  years  only.  How  wonderful  the 
progress  both  in  work  and  result !  The  Ehenish 
Mission  among  the  Battas  in  Sumatra  began  only 
in  1 86 1  ;  it  has  now  11  stations  and  more  than  2400 
baptized  converts.  The  Basel  Mission,  on  the  Gold 
Coast,  had,  in  1848,  only  about  40  baptized  negroes, 
in  three  stations ;  now  it  has  well  on  to  4000,  in  24 
stations,  principal  and  outlying.  The  Gossner  Mis- 
sion among  the  Kolhs  in  India  had,  in  1850,  four 
solitary  baptized  converts;  now,  in  its  stations  it 
has  30,000  baptized  Kolhs  under  its  care,  and  in 
tlie  Propagation  Society  there  are  10,000.  In 
1843  all  the  English  and  American  missionaries 
in  China  assembled  in  Hong-Kong,  wliich  had  just 
been  surrendered  to  England.     There  were  twelve  of 

*  Made  chiefly  by  missionaries,  Witbin  seventy  years,  sixty  or 
seventy  languages  have  been  made  to  possess  a  literary  history. 

t  Reed,  "The  Biblework  of  the  World,"  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  General  Conference  on  Foreign  Missions,  held  in  Mildinay  Park 
(October  1878),  London,  iSyQ.pp.  231  -234,  and  the  whole  list  of  new 
translations  of  the  Scriptures  in  our  century,  pp.  414  428.  In  the 
extract  of  the  Seventy-fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  British  Bible 
Society,  Beilin,  1879,  p.  67,  the  number  of  languages  and  dialects 
iti  which  Bibles  and  parts  of  Bibles  are  printed  and  circulated  is 
given  as  308.      (Berlin  Biaiich  Society.) 


Their  Present  State.  2 1 

tliem,  with  hardly  six  converts  on  the  island.  To- 
day there  labour  in  China,  at  length  thrown  open, 
about  240  male  missionaries  from  Europe  and 
America,  with  90  principal  stations  and  over  500 
out-stations  (see  below),  while  the  number  of  the 
Chinese  communicants  has  been  increased  two  thou- 
sandfold.* A  similarly  rapid  progress  is  seen  in 
Southern  India,  Burmah,  the  South  Seas,  and  among 
the  Christians  in  Turkey.  In  the  year  i860  there 
were  in  heathen  lands  hardly  20  medical  missionaries, 
now  these  number  above  po.f  The  same  advance  is 
marked  in  the  above-mentioned  female  missionary 
societies,  for  the  evangelisation  of  the  women  of 
India  and  Turkey. 

But  of  more  worth  than  all  numerical  statistics  of 
progress  is  the  immeasurably  deep  and  broad  moral 
influence  of  the  Gospel,  as  that  is  even  now  to  be  seen 
in  the  regeneration  of  whole  heathen  races.  Social 
life,  with  its  thousand-year-old  horrors  and  barbari- 
ties, in  the  immense  lands  of  heathendom,  is  bein^r 
visibly  changed  into  the  civilised  forms  of  human 
existence.  Gradually  the  Bible  ideas  of  self-respect 
and  of  reverence  for  humanity — these  foundations  of 
all  true  culture — are  dispelling  the  long  night  of 
lieathen  degradation.  Marriage,  the  family,  educa- 
tion, and  civil  order  are  conceptions  which,  from  year 

*  Professor  Legge,  Mildmay  Conference,  pp.  170,  171. 
t  The  Kev.  Dr.  Lowe,  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  77. 


2  2  Protestant  Foreign  Missions 


iy 


to  year,  are  being  reintroduced  and  better  under- 
stood. But  of  this  more  afterwards.  One  further 
remark  here. 

It  might  have  been  doubted,  thirty  years  ago, 
whether  the  Gospel  could  raise  and  save  the  most 
sunken  races,  and  be  to  them  a  savour  of  life  unto 
life.  But  to-day  the  Portuguese  will  no  longer  call 
the  Hottentots  a  race  of  apes,  altogether  incapable  of 
being  Christianised.  To-day  there  is  no  more  to  be 
seen  on  many  a  church  door  in  Cape  Colony,  "  Dogs 
and  Hottentots  not  admitted,"  as  was  the  case  when 
Dr.  VAN  DER  Kemp  pleaded  for  the  human  rights  of 
this  oppressed  people.  To-day  no  one  will  agree 
with  the  French  governor  of  the  island  of  Bourbon, 
who  exclaimed  to  the  first  Protestant  missionaries  for 
Madagascar,  "  You  will  make  the  Malagasy  Chris- 
tians ?  Impossible  !  They  are  mere  brutes,  and  have 
no  more  sense  than  irrational  cattle."  *  In  that 
island  there  are  hundreds  of  Protestant  churches,  the 
London  Missionary  Society  having  there,  in  its  ser- 
vice alone,  386  native  ordained  pastors,  156  native 
evangelists,  and  3468  native  lay  assistant  preachers 
and  Bible  readers.f  About  twenty  years  ago  some 
Englishmen,  who  had  circumnavigated  the  globe, 
stated,  in  my  licaring,  that  the  Aborigines  of  Aus- 
tralia were  quite  beyond  thereacli  of  tlie  Gospel,  and 

*  Eppler,  "Madagascar,"  1784,  p.  69;  cf.  with  p.  85. 

t  "  lleport  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  "  (May  1S79),  p.  2S. 


Their  Pi^esent  State.  2  3 

that,  before  they  could  even  understand  it,  they  must 
first  go  through  a  preliminary  course  of  general  in- 
struction.* That  theory  has  now  been  refuted,  e.g., 
by  two  Moravian  missionary  communities  in  Gipps- 
land,  with  their  pretty  churches,  cleanly  houses,  and 
their  125  baptized  converts.f  Yes,  to-day  we  have, 
as  was  shown  at  the  last  Alliance  meeting  in  New 
York,:}:  the  joy,  precious  and  infinitely  strengthening 
to  faith,  of  seeing  it  proved  by  figures,  which  cannot 
be  called  in  question,  that  the  most  degraded  of  liea- 
then  nations,  simply  because  they  are  human  beings, 
may,  at  the  sound  of  the  Gospel,  he  hrought  to  listen, 
and  learn  to  believe.  We  thus  have  the  comforting 
assurance  that  no  lace  is  spiritually  so  dead  that 
by  the  good  news  it  cannot  rise  to  ncAvness  of  life, 
no  tongue  so  barbarian  that  it  will  not  admit  of  a 
translation  of  the  Bible,  no  heathen  soul  so  sunk 
that  he  cannot  become  a  new  creature  in  Christ 
Jesus ;  and  that  therefore  our  Lord  and  Master, 
coming  to  us  as  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life,  in 
the  widest  acceptation  of  the  words,  issued  no  impos- 

*  See  for  further  particulars  as  to  the  opinion  that  culture  should 
in  principle  and  systematically  precede  missions,  the  paper  just  pub- 
lished by  Dr.  Warneck,  "Die  gegenseitigen  Beziehungen  zwischen 
der  modernen  Mission  und  Cultur,"  1829,  p.  214,  sqq. 

t  "  Ueberblick  iiber  das  Missionswerk  der  Briidergemeinde," 
June  1819,  p.  40,  sqq. 

X  Bishop  Schweinitz,  '*  Missions  among  the  Lowest  of  the  Hea- 
then." See  Evangelical  Alliance  Conference,  1873  (New  York),  p. 
619,  sqq.;  "Allgemeiue  Miss.-Zeit.scbrift,''  1874,  March,  p.  115. 


24  Protestant  Foi^cign  ]\Iissioiis : 

sible  command,  wlien,  embracing  without  any  ex- 
ception all  and  every  human  misery,  He  said,  "  Go  ye 
into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  Evangelical  Christendom  had  long  been 
accustomed  simply  to  hclievc  its  possibility.  To-day 
we  have  living  proofs  of  its  actual  accomplishment 
in  thousands  of  converted  South  Sea  cannibals,  of 
Esquimaux  and  American  Indians,  of  Bush  Negroes 
and  Pesherehs  of  Tierra  del  Euego,  yes,  even  of 
Papuans  in  Australia  and  New  Guinea !  Truly  v/e 
must,  in  looking  at  this  field  of  Protestant  missionary 
labour,  which  in  extent  and  influence  has  assumed 
such  immense  proportions,  be  constrained  more  than 
ever  to  say  with  that  champion  of  missions  in  South 
Germany,  Dr.  Lakth,  and  in  humble  thankfulness  to 
the  Lord  of  the  Church — 

"  Wo  wir'ft  kaum  gewayt  zii  LoiTiii, 
Steliii  ntm  weit  die  Tliiiren  ofFeii, 
Miihsam  folgt  der  schwaclie  Tritt 
Deinem  raschen  Siegesscliritt." 

Still  this  encouraging  picture  has  a  reverse  side, 
which  calls  for  serious  consideration,  when  the  past  is 
compared  with  the  present,  and  the  present  viewed 
in  the  light  of  the  future.  It  is  with  missions 
precisely  as  with  all  Christian  labours  of  love  :  the 
work  grows  tlie  more  vigorously  it  is  prosecuted. 
We  rejoice  that  on  almost  every  coast  and  island  the 
dawn  is  appearing,  and  that  on  some  the  sun  has 


Their  p7'€se]it  State,  25 

already  arisen.  We  do  not  "  despise  tlie  day  of  small 
things,"  but  we  dare  not  conceal  from  ourselves  tlie 
fact,  that,  in  the  most  of  our  mission  fields,  and  pre- 
cisely among  tlie  greatest  and,  comrparatively  speaking, 
most  cultivated  of  heathen  peoples,  notwithstanding 
encouraging  partial  progress,  on  the  whole  no  more 
than  very  hopeful  commencements  have  yet  been  made  ; 
nor,  we  may  add,  could  more  have  been  expected  by 
intelligent  observers.  What  is  a  little  more  than  one 
million  and  a  half  of  our  baptized  converts,  compared 
with  the  thousand  millions  of  heathens  and  Moham- 
medans ?  Wliat  are  our  forty-five  or  fifty  thousand 
Christianised  Chinese  against  the  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  Pagans  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Middle  ?  Xot 
to  mention  Europe  and  Xorth  America,  the  gigantic 
interiors  of  all  the  other  continents  have  not  yet,  or 
almost  not  yet,  been  traversed  by  even  a  single 
herald  of  the  GospeL  They  have  not  been  entered 
and  taken  up,  far  less  conquered.  In  our  most 
flourishing  mission  fields  missionary  labour  has,  as 
yet,  attained  its  end  only  in  part;  only  here  and 
there  has  its  place  been  occupied  by  the  parochial 
administration  of  self-sustaining  Churches — as,  for 
instance,  in  parts  of  the  West  Indies,  Sierra  Leone, 
the  Cape,  Madagascar,  Southern  India,  and  in  many 
of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  particularly  the  Hawaiians. 
As  yet  the  training  of  heathen  converts  to  become 
true,  trustworthy,  independent  preachers   has  only 


2  6  Protestant  Foreio^n  Missions 


<!> 


hopefully  commenced ;  there  remains,  on  the  coasts 
and  iu  the  interior,  a  large  harvest  to  be  secured, 
yes,  an  hundredfold  greater  than  has  yet  been 
gathered  in. 

In  addition  to  this,  missionary  labour  seems  to  be 
becoming,  in  many  districts,  more  difficult  than  for- 
merly. True,  all  commencements  are  difficult.  But 
more  than  a  commencement  has  been  made.  For,  if 
once  there  be  a  beginning,  a  foundation  is  thus  laid  of 
incalculable  range  and  strength.  Much  is  won,  no 
doubt,  if  only  the  key  to  a  heathen  people,  its  language, 
be  safe  and  sure,  at  the  command  of  the  individual 
messengers  of  the  Gospel.  But  the  chief  difficulties 
are  often  encountered  in  the  course  of  after-develop- 
ment. In  how  many  missions,  which  years  ago  began 
wilh  much  promise,  is  there  left  now  only  the  liope 
of  rescuing  a  small  remnant  of  the  race  among  whom 
Christian  work  was  at  first  commenced !  The  sudden 
and  oftentimes  brutal  advance  of  white  settlers,  of 
gold-diggers,  of  brandy  merchants,  and  others,  with 
all  tlieir  demoralising  influences,  splits  up  and  scat- 
ters tlie  Church  as  yet  hardly  formed,  and  increases 
existing  native  prejudices  to  an  almost  unconquer- 
able liatred  of  every  white  face.  I  need  refer  only  to 
South  Africa,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  many  of 
tlie  Indian  territories  of  North  America. 

To  undermine  a  liuge  stronghold  of  darkness,  like 
Ilindooism,  was,  and  is  in  itself,  a  sufficiently  heavy 


Their  Present  State,  2  7 

undertaking.  What  must  it  be  then,  when,  as  now, 
the  Hindoos  confront  the  missionary  with  quotations 
from  Hegel,  Steauss,  and  Eenan  ?  When,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  ancient  superstitions,  modern  infidelity 
has  to  be  combated  ?  When  the  youth  of  heathendom, 
thirsting  for  knowledge,  are  instructed — as  in  Japan 
they  are — by  materialistic  professors ;  and  when,  as 
often  happens,  students  in  the  colleges  of  India 
abandon  superstition,  only  to  adopt  complete  reli- 
gious indifference  or  nihilism  ? 

So  far  from  the  battlements  of  Islam  being  stormed 
in  concentrated  attack,  they  have  not  as  yet  been 
encompassed.  But  what  shall  we  say  if  the  false 
prophet  himself — though  it  be  but  the  convulsive 
twitching  of  one  whose  death-struggle  has  begun — 
prosecute  missions  w4th  remarkable  success  ?  Wit- 
ness the  interior  of  Africa  in  all  its  breadth,  and  the 
Malays  in  the  Indian  Archipelago  1  How,  if  the 
Gospel  knock  at  doors  formerly  open,  but  now  closed 
by  Islam  against  it  ?  In  many  heathen  lands  the 
missionaries  often  have  the  impression,  that  they 
would  have  gained  access  more  easily  had  they  come 
centuries  earlier.  And  God's  plan,  according  to 
which  He  brings  His  kingdom  within  reach  of  indi- 
vidual nations,  does  not  relieve  human  neglect  from 
responsibility.  Where,  in  the  present  day,  can  Pro- 
testant missions  make  any  great  stride  in  advance, 
without  Eome  immediately  following  close  at  their 


28  Protestant  Foreioii  Missions : 

lieels  ?  lu  Madagascar  and  Central  Africa,  in  the 
South  Seas  and  in  British  North  America,  wherever 
Itome  can,  she  seeks  by  her  influence  to  paralyse 
the  advance  of  the  Gospel. 

Still,  the  growing  opposition  of  the  darkness  is 
perhaps  a  sign  of  the  progress  of  the  light, — a  proof 
that  the  line  of  attack  is  beincj  extended.  But  what 
if  the  darkest  clouds  in  the  missionaries'  sky  are  to 
be  found,  not  so  much  in  the  various  phenomena 
presented  by  the  hostile  country,  as  in  the  atmosphere 
of  the  Churches  at  home  ?  Where  is  there  now  that 
deep  enthusiasm,  such  as  existed  at  the  founding 
of  the  most  of  our  missionary  societies  ?  When,  in 
September  1795,  aged  and  venerable  Churchmen 
and  Dissenters  embraced  with  tears  in  the  cliapel 
of  Lady  Huntingdon,*  and,  reaching  each  other 
llie  hand,  across  the  barriers  of  denominationalism 
formed  the  London  Missionary  Society.  Or  when, 
again,  at  tlie  ordination  of  the  hrst  four  Barmen 
missionaries,  the  offering  plates  were  filled,  not 
with  money  only,  but  with  gohlen  chains,  watches, 
rings,  and  ornaments  of  all  kinds. -[-  AVliere  is  all 
that  now  ? 

Abroad,  among  the  lieathen,  there   bursts  forth, 


*  See  Ostertag,  *' Uebersichtlicbe  Gescbichte  der  protest.  Mid- 
Kioiien,"  1858,  p.  44. 

t  V.  RolidfMi,  "  (iepcliiclite  dcr  rlieiuischcn  Miss.-GesclIscLaft," 
bccoud  ed.,  1 87 1,  p.  21. 


Their  Present  State.  29 

from  time  to  time,  the  flame  of  a  first  love  into 
similar  zeal  for  the  work  of  the  Lord.  But  at  home  ? 
Who  does  not  feel  the  deep,  stinging  truth  in  the 
complaint  lately  made  : — "  The  chief  danger  for 
missions  lies,  I  see,  in  this,  that  missionary  enterprise 
will  glide  into  routine,  missionary  zeal  become  so 
much  rhetoric,  and  participation  in  missionary  work 
degenerate  into  a  matter  of  hahit,  not  to  say  of  eccle- 
siastical husiness.  The  chief  hindrance  among  ns  to 
an  earnest  prosecution  of  missions  lies  not  in  the 
spiteful  attacks  of  an  hostile  world ;  it  lies  in  those 
circles  which  appear  friendly  to  missions,  but  which 
deny  their  power."  * 

Till  recently,  as  the  considerable  increase  in  the 
revenues  of  the  various  societies  showed,  the  interest 
at  home  kept  pace,  from  decennium  to  decennium, 
with  the  growing  extent  of  missionary  enter- 
prise. Tor  a  few  years  back,  however,  deficits  in 
many  of  the  great  societies — in  Germany  more 
especially  —  have  hecome  chronic.  Is  this  a  con- 
sequence only  of  the  widespread  commercial  and 
agricultural  depression,  and  temporary  ?  Or  will  the 
funds  permit  no  greater  drain  on  them  for  some 
time  to  come  ?     Many  seem  actually  to  think,  that 


*  Warneck,  "Die  Belebungdes  Missionssinnes  in  derHeimath," 
1878,  p.  26,  sqq.  ;  cf.  also  Alden  (American  Board),  "  Shall  we  have 
a  Missionary  Revival  ?  "  p.  4. 


30  Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

any  further  demand  on  the  material  resources  of  the 
friends  of  missions  would  be  a  very  questionable 
policy.  Already  some  of  the  Boards  of  Direction, 
in  spite  of  the  many  earnest  appeals  from  heathen 
lands,  have  felt  themselves  compelled  to  take  up  the 
question  of  limited  and  diminished  supplies.  Even 
in  England  and  America,  here  and  there,  the  neces- 
sity for  retrenchments  casts  a  heavy  cloud  on  the 
prospects  of  the  future.  Will  all  the  societies — like 
the  American  Board  in  Boston,*  a  short  time  ago — 
soon  again  return  to  the  happy  condition  of  being 
able  to  free  their  missionaries  from  the  fear  of 
retrenchments  in  the  several  stations  ? 

However  strong  our  faith  and  hope  with  regard  to 
the  answer  of  this  question,  I  am  convinced  that,  on 
a  mere  comparison  of  past  and  present,  the  balance 
is  not  altogether  in  favour  of  the  present,  and  that 
w^e  owe  the  more  thanks  to  God  that  He  has,  not  so 
much  hij  us,  as  in  spite  of  us,  in  spite  of  the  luke- 
warmness  and  w^orldliness  of  our  Christianity,  per- 
mitted such  rapid  advances  to  be  made  towards  the 
completion  of  His  own  work ! 

But  this  brings  us  to  the  second  topic  of  con- 
sideration, tlie — 


*   "  What  the  Missionaries  tliink  of  Relief  from  Retrenchmeut, ' 
Miasionary  Herald,"  July  1S79,  p.  244,  sqq. 


Their  Present  State.  3 1 


II. — Mission  Agencies  of  the  Churches  at  Home. 

I  shall  confine  myself  here  to  one  or  two  com- 
parisons with  an  essentially  practical  bearing,  using 
the  almost  unlimited  statistical  resources  at  com- 
mand only  here  and  there,  by  way  of  illustration. 
First,  then,  I  shall  consider  the  centre  of  missionary 
life  at  home,  tlu  Churches  and  their  missionary 
efforts  ;  then,  secondly,  the  technical  instrumentality 
of  this  power — the  missionary  Societies  and  their 
mode  of  operation. 

The  foreign  operations  of  the  Protestant  Church — 
in  contrast  to  those  of  Eome,  which  are  uniformly 
conducted  and  strongly  centralised — present  them- 
selves to  us  broken  up  into  many  divisions  of  mis- 
sionary labour.  That  this  may  not  be  wholly  a 
drawback  and  a  danger,  but,  on  the  contrary,  an 
advantage  and  a  blessing,  is  shown  nowhere  so 
clearly  as  in  the  mission  field  itself.  "  The  variety 
we  exhibit  in  our  Churches,  our  societies,  our  modes 
of  worship,"  says  the  excellent  Dr.  Mullens,*  "  is  not 
an  evil  to  be  mourned  over ;  it  is  a  positive  blessing 
to  our  cause."  Each  of  the  almost  innumerable 
fields  of  labour  demands  a  separate  plan  of  opera- 
tion, indeed  a  separate  form  of  worship  and  of  con- 
stitution.     (See   IV.,  end.)      The  diversity  in  our 

*  Conference  on  Foreign  Missions,  Mildmay,  1878,  p,  26. 


3  2  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

methods  of  training  for  the  foreign  field  is,  beyond 
question,  more  calculated  to  form  a  missionary  of 
strongly  individual  character,  than  is  Eome's  prin- 
ciple of  subjecting  all  alike  to  a  uniform,  compulsory 
system  of  blind  obedience.  Doubtless  divergencies 
in  point  of  doctrine  have  their  serious  drawbacks  in 
the  mission  field  as  elsewhere,  but,  in  the  presence 
of  heathenism,  these  divergencies  are  not,  as  a  rule, 
brought  prominently  forward.  In  a  land,  as  Mac- 
AULAY  said  on  his  return  from  India,  where  cattle 
are  worshipped,  much  notice  is  not  taken  of  the  dif- 
ferences which  separate  Christians  from  one  another. 
There  "  unitas  in  necessariis "  must  regulate  the 
conduct  of  all  our  missionaries.  Not  long  ago  Lord 
NoimiBROOK,  formerly  Governor-General  of  India, 
publicly  expressed  his  astonishment  at  the  disap- 
pearance of  doctrinal  differences,  and  the  substantial 
unity  which  prevailed  among  the  missionaries  and 
Christians  of  the  various  denominations  in  India.* 
And  it  seems  to  me  the  late  general  conferences  in 
India  and  Cliina  are  the  best  proof  that  missionary 
labourers  have,  as  but  few  others,  formed  themselves 
into  an  alliance  for  practical  co-operation. 

If,  now,  we  compare  the  different  countries  in  the 


*  At  the  May  meeting  of  the  London  Baptist  Missionary  Society. 
See  "Evangelical  Cbristendom,"  June  1879,  p,  175;  AVaniock, 
"  Bcziehungen  zwischen  der  modernen  Missiou  nnd  Cultur,"  see 
above,  p.  446. 


Their  Present  State.  ^iZ 

matter  of  missionary  effort,  we  find  that  England 
stands  first ;  that  land,  which  from  her  national 
wealth,  her  many  and  great  colonies,  the  inborn  apti- 
tude of  her  sons  for  transmaritime  affairs  and  their 
practical  treatment,  has  a  special  call  to  missionary 
enterprise.  The  larger  part  of  all  that  is  done  in  the 
foreign  field  by  Protestant  agencies,  is  carried  on  by 
Britain,  and  this  both  with  regard  to  contributions 
(often  over  ;^  700,000  per  annum)  and  to  stations 
and  agents  (1300  ordained  European  missionaries), 
while  she  possesses  more  than  the  half  of  the  total 
number  of  baptized  converts. 

If  we  compare  the  Churches  according  to  the  indi- 
vidual efforts  of  each,  the  fact — which  I,  precisely 
as  a  member  of  a  National  Church,  must  mention 
— becomes  apparent,  that,  in  liberality,  the  great 
National  Chnrclics  are  considerahly  oidstripped  by  the 
smaller  Free  Churches.  Noticeably  is  this  the  case  in 
Scotland.  The  Scottish  Established  Church,  though 
still  the  largest  in  point  of  ministers  and  congrega- 
tions,* is  conspicuously  surpassed  by  the  two  leading 
Eree  Churches,  notwithstanding  that  the  latter  must 
supply  their  home  needs  from  their  own  resources. 
The  contributions  of  the  former  Church  (she  has  \ 
500,000  members)  amounted  recently  to  little  more   1 

*  In  Scotland,  of  3000  ministers,  1 380  belong  to  the  Established 
I!hurch,  1060  to  the  Free  Church,  560  to  the  United  Presbj'terian 
Jhurch.     See  the  "  Catholic  Presbyterian,"  August  1879,  p.  148. 

C 


34  Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

than  ^25,000  for  foreign  missions,  whilst  those 
of  the  United  Tresbyterian  Church,  with  rather  over 
170,000  members,  for  a  like  purpose,  amounted 
to  nearly  ^40,000.  In  this  way  the  State  Church 
raises  about  one  shilling  per  member  for  missionary 
purposes,  and  the  United  Presbyterian  from  four 
to  five  shillings.*  Nor  is  the  average  in  the,  doubt- 
less wealthier.  Free  Church  much  less,  the  number 
of  her  members  being  220,000,  and  the  annual  sum 
she  raises  for  foreign  missions  ;^ 45, 000 — a  dispro- 
portion which  is  becoming  every  day  more  keenly 
felt  in  the  National  Church.  The  State  Church  of 
England,  too — although  with  her  Propagation  and 
Church  Missionary  Societies  (including  those  of  the 
Universities  and  other  smaller  ones),  in  contributions 
and  workers,  she  represents  nearly  the  half  of  all 
English  missionary  enterprise — can  yet,  nevertheless, 
barely  stand  comparisonf  with  the  Nonconformists. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  the  State  Church  of 
I'^ngland  is  tlie  richest  ecclesiastical  body  in  the 
world,  and  over  against  her  efforts  we  must  place 

*  "The  Tilissionary  Record  of  the  United  PresVjyterian  Churcli," 
April  1879,  pp.  457  and  430;  "Life  and  Work,"  August  1879,  p. 
126,  iq^ri.  ;  Warneck,  "  Belebung  des  Mi.ssions.sinnes,"  p.  94,  sqq. 

+  According  to  Cauon  Scott  Robertson,  the  sum  raised  by  the 
Church  of  England  for  missions  in  1878  amounts  to  $2,330,365  ;  by 
English  Nonconformist  Missionary  Societies  to  $1,621,155  ;  and  by 
the  Scotch  and  Irish  Tresbytcrian  Societies  to  $695,055.  See 
"Missionary  Herald,"  Boston,  Februaiy  1879,  p.  69. 


Their  Present  State. 


oo 


those  of  tlie  Wesleyan,  the  London,  the  Baptist, 
the  English  Presbyterian  Missionary  Societies,  with 
those  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Church,  the  United 
Methodist  Free  Church,  the  China  Inland  ]\Iission, 
and  other  smaller  societies. 

Much  more  marked  is  the  contrast  in  the  case 
of  the  small  community  of  Moravian  Brethren,  of 
whom  there  are  in  Europe  and  America  only  about 
20,000  grown-up  members.  From  the  beginning, 
indeed,  this  body  has  been  unrivalled  as  a  missionary 
Church,  and  it  is  the  only  one,  of  all  the  continental 
Churches,  that  is  able  to  dispute  the  first  place  with 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland.  She 
raises  for  missionary  purposes  about  4s.  6d.  per 
adult,*  whilst  the  large  national  Churches  of  Crcr- 
many  contribute  in  some  places,  per  head  (old  and 
young,  however,  included),  at  the  rate  of  something 
considerably  less  than  one  farthing !  Whence  this 
difference  ?  Not  merely  from  the  circumstance  alone, 
that  the  Free  Church  congregations,  as  Churclics, 
carry  on  missionary  operations  under  the  immediate 
control  of  their  Board  of  Direction,  and  that  from 
each  Church,  even  the  smallest,  an  annual  contribu- 
tion is  expected,  and  is,  as  a  matter  of  course,  looked 
upon  as  a  necessary  part  of  ecclesiastical  life ;  whilst 

*  Twenty  thousand  foiii-  hundred  and  twenty-nuie  adults  in  the 
three  provinces  of  that  Church  (in  Germany,  England,  and  America) 
raised  recently  the  sum  of  about  ;^45oo  for  missions. 


2,6  Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

the  State  and  National  Cliurclies,  not  having  ex- 
tended, and  sometimes  not  being  able  to  extend,  this 
Avork  over  their  wliole  area,  leave  the  fulfilment  of 
the  duty  to  the  various  societies  and  circles  friendly 
to  missions  ^vithin  their  pale.  ISTot  from  this  circum- 
stance alone,  but — because  the  National  Church  is  in 
general  the  Church  partly  of  the  rich,  who,  with  a 
few  noble  exceptions,  have  seldom  a  warm  heart 
and  an  open  hand  for  the  cause  of  missions, — partly, 
of  the  poor,  who  can  send  only  a  small  part  of 
their  hard-earned  gains  across  the  sea, — partly  of 
the  lukewarm,  the  indifferent,  the  worldly,  who  (as 
recently  a  professor  of  the  Established  Church  in 
Edinburgh  complained),  if  there  were  not  a  State 
Church,  would  belong  to  no  Church  at  all,  and  wlio 
are  but  in  a  small  degree  interested  in  the  cause  of 
Christ ;  whilst,  the  very  fact  of  belonging  to  a  Free 
Church  demands  from  the  individual  a  deeper  interest 
in  matters  pertaining  to  religion  and  the  Church. 
Among  Dissenters  there  is  to  be  found  a  systematic 
giving  for  Church  purposes,  and  consequently  for 
Church  extension  and  the  cause  of  missions, — the 
education  of  each  individual  to  contril)ute  regularly, 
as  his  means  allow  (in  the  case  of  the  Wesleyans),  to 
which  the  members  of  the  State  Cliurch  are  in  no 
way  accustomed.  Every  Church  must  grow  and 
increase,  if  she  would  live  and  truly  he,  a  CJmrch.  lUit 
more  especially  should  it  be  so  with  those,  which, 


Thei}^  Present  State.  2>7 

unlike  the  National  Clmrches,  succeed  to  no  patri- 
mony of  millions,  possess  no  fixed  domains,  and 
have  no  assured  place  in  the  life  of  a  people,  but 
must,  by  a  hard  struggle,  win  all  these  gradually  for 
themselves — with  the  Free  Churches.  Hence  the 
greater  predisposition  of  the  latter,  if  the  term  may 
be  used,  to  self-extension  and  missionary  activity ! 

In  this  way  is  to  be  explained,  in  a  great  measure, 
the  lively  and  general  interest  taken  in  the  cause  of 
missions  by  the  evangelical  denominations  through- 
out the  United  States,  which  have  long  since 
learned  to  be  independent  and  to  do  without  State 
support.  It  may  have  been  due,  no  doubt,  to  other 
causes,  in  a  great  measure  to  the  growth  of  a  more 
evangelical  Protestant  Christianity,  but  certainly  it 
was  no  mere  accidental  circumstance,  that  a  livelier 
interest  in  missionary  enterprise  began  after  the 
privileges  of  the  State  Church  had  been  abolished  in 
New  England,  and  that  stubborn  remnant  of  former 
rationalism,  the  Unitarians,  had  separated  itself  from 
the  other  conOTes^^ationalists.  Delivered  without 
from  the  encumbrance  of  State  aid,  and  within  from 
the  paralysing  influence  of  unbelief,  the  Church  was, 
and  could  not  but  have  been,  the  better  able  to 
develop,  and  bring  without  hindrance  into  opera- 
tion, the  resources  she  contained  within  herself. 
And  of  how  great  these  were,  we  have  a  standing 
proof  in  her  foreign  missionary  societies,  with  their 


8  Proicstcnit  Foreio-ji  missions 


e> 


§1,750,000  income,  and  their  500  or  600  ordained 
missionaries,  most  of  whom  have  been  drawn  from 
the  universities. 

In  no  land  in  the  world  do  missions,  with  the 
other  institutions  wliich  serve  to  promote  the  cause 
of  education,  receive  so  many  donations  and  legacies 
from  rich  private  individuals  as  in  America.  The 
average  contributions,  too,  prove  that  there  is  here  a 
general  interest  in  missions,  such  as  is  to  be  found 
only  in  Free  Churches.  Many  years  ago  the  vener- 
able historian  of  missions,  Dr.  Anderson  of  Boston, 
calculated  that  there  was  only  from  one-fourth  to 
one-third  of  all  the  members  of  the  Congregationalist 
Churches  wliich  did  not  contribute  anything  towards 
missions,*  and  the  fraction  may  since  then  have 
become  smaller.  The  Congregationalists,  with  about 
375,000  communicants,-}-  contributed  last  year  for 
foreign  missic^ns  §511,000,^  or  at  the  rate  of  5s.  6d. 
per  head ;  and  the  two  Presbyterian  Churches,  North 
and  South, §  with  about  682,000  communicants, — 

*  Anderson,  *' Foreign  Missions,  their  Relations  and  Claims," 
third  ed.,  1870,  p.  26. 

t  See  paper  road  at  the  Basel  Alliance  hy  Dr.  SchalT,  "  Chris- 
tianity in  the  United  States,"  pp.  14  and  30,  sqq. 

X  According  to  Annual  lleport  for  1879,  see  "  Mis.sionary 
Herald,"  November  1879,  p.  414;  the  great  legacy  of  Asa  Otis, 
of  about  $i,cx)0,ooo  (p.  415),  is  not  included. 

§  According  to  Dr.  Schaff  (see  above)  the  number  of  communi- 
cants in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  North  in  1878  amounted 
to  more  than  567,000  ;  in  that  of  the  South,  to  above  114,000, 


The  17^  Pi'csent  State.  39 

1562,000,  or  3s.  6d.  *  per  head.  The  fact  that  the 
second  largest  of  all  the  Churches  in  the  United 
States,  the  Episcopal  Methodist  in  the  North  (with 
about  1,700,000  communicants,  or  6,900,000  nominal 
members  f)  spends  considerably  less  on  foreign 
missions  J  (1878,  |285,ooo),  arises  from  this  cir- 
cumstance, that  she  devotes  most  of  her  energy  to 
the  extension  of  her  denomination  among  the  negroes 
and  colonists  of  the  West.  The  case  is  similar  with 
the  most  numerous  body  of  all,  the  Baptists,  wiih 
2,102,000  communica.nts,  wdiich,  including  her  returns 
from  Europe,  raised  last  year  1252,677  for  foreign 
missions. §  The  efforts,  too,  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  of  whose  2900  parishes  (with  4200 
congregations)  only  1 1 70  contributed  at  all  last  year 
— (total  income,  $139.971) — are  relatively  smaller, 
but,  compared  with  former  efforts,  show  a  decided 


*  The  sum  raised  for  missions  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
North,  amounted,  according  to  Annual  Report  of  May  1S79,  p.  81, 
to  ^425,000;  last  year,  to  $461,000.  Cf.  also  "  Der  Christliche 
Apologete"  (Cincinnati),  July  7th,  1879. 

f  According  to  statistics  for  1878,  1,709,000  communicants  ;  for 
1879,  1,688,000.     See  Schaff,  pp.  14  and  30. 

X  "Missionary  Herald,"  Boston,  June  1879,  p.  229  ;  for  foreign 
missions,  $272,114;  besides,  for  missions  to  the  Indians,  $13,500; 
besides,  for  native  missions,  $221,800.  In  1877  altogether,  $628,000, 
See  Annual  Eeport  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  1879,  p.  30. 

§  See  "Missionary  Herald,"  August  1879,  p.  308;  "Der 
Christlich.e  Apologete,"  July  14th,  1S79. 


40  Protesta7it  Foi-eign  missions : 

increase.  So,  too,  the  Lutheran  Church  ;  whilst  many 
smaller  Churches,  like  the  510  Dutch  Eeformed 
congregations,  raise  such  considerable  sums,  that, 
comparatively,  they  are  not  far  behind  those  first- 
mentioned. 

If   we    turn    now    to    Europe,    our    attention   is 
first   attracted   by   Holland,   which,   with   her    50 
missionaries   and   about    320,000   florins  of  annual 
income  {e.g.,    1877,    317,000  florins),   will   compare 
favourably    with    any    country    on    the    continent. 
Whether,  however,  the   sum   she  raises  is  propor- 
tionate  to  the   great  riches   of   the   land,  and   the 
obvious  duty  to  prosecute  missions   which  a  large 
colonial  connection  entails,  I  leave  to  the  serious 
consideration  of  my  esteemed  Dutch  brethren.     The 
numler  of  Dutch  inissionary  societies  calls  for  espe- 
cial remark ;  no  I^rotestant  land  has,  in  comparison, 
so  many.     Holland  possesses  as  many  as  Germany, 
which  is  ten  times  larger,  viz.,  nine,  and  two  auxi- 
liaries of  the  Moravian  and  the  llhenish  missions. 
It  can    easily  be   understood,  therefore,  that,  thus 
broken  up,  the  missionary  agencies,  in  tliemselves  so 
considerable,  even,  indeed,  tlie  greatest  and  strongest 
of    tlicm,  —  the   Necderlandsch    Zendcling   Gcnoot- 
schap    (Rotterdam),    tlie    Utrechtsche    Zendingsve- 
reeniging,   the   Neederlandscli    Zendingsvcreeniging 
(Rotterdam), — liave  only  16,  11,  and  8  missionaries 
respectively  in  the  field,  and  the  other  societies  still 


Their  Present  State.  4 1 

fewer.*  How  united,  compared  with  this,  do  France 
and  Norway  appear,  with  their  missionary  energies 
concentrated  into  single  societies  !  That  one  mission- 
ary society  in  Paris,  with  a  revenue  of  about  230,000 
francs,  evidences  in  France  an  interest  in  missions 
at  least  equal  to  that  of  Holland  (about  ijd.  or  2d. 
per  head  of  the  Protestant  population  f),  while  in 
Norway,  with  its  considerably  younger  society,  the 
interest  has  not  yet  become  so  general. 

Advancing  now  inland  to  Germany  and  Switzer- 
land, we  find  that  here  the  Churches,  in  point  of 
material  contributions,  fall,  as  a  whole,  considerably 
behind  Holland,  with  her  somewhat  moderate  attain- 
ments, not  to  speak  of  England  and  America.  The 
German  Lutheran  Church,  including  the  Moravian 
(which  did  not  in  any  essential  doctrinal  point  differ 
from  her),  in  the  last  century  surpassed  all  other 


*  According  to  Dutch  statistics  (1877)  the  N'eederlandsch  Zende- 
liug  Genootschap  (Rotterdam),  had  16  missionaries  and  an  income 
of  88,000  fl.  ;  the  Utrechtsche,  ii  missionaries  and  72,000  fl.  ;  the 
Neederlandsch  Zendingsvereenigiug  (Rotterdam),  8  missionaries  and 
3500  fl.  ;  Ermelo's  Zendinggenootschap,  5  missionaries  and  16,000 
fl.  ;  Java  Comity  (Amsterdam),  4  missionaries  and  10,000  fl,  ; 
Zendiugsvereeniging  of  the  Mennonites  (Amsterdam),  3  mission- 
aries and  16,000  fl. ;  Neederlandsch  Gereformeerde  Zendingsve- 
reeniging  (Amsterdam),  2  missionaries  and  14,000  fl.  ;  Christ.  Gere- 
formeerde Kerk,  I  missionary  and  10,000  fl.  ;  Zeister  Hiilfsgesell- 
schaft  fiir  Herrnhut,  16,000  fl.  ;  Rheinische  Hiilfsmiss.-Gesellsch. 
(Amsterdam),  12,000  fl,  ;  Batavia  Comitd,  28,000  fl. 
Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1879,  p,  302. 


42  Protestant  Foreign  Jllissions: 

rrotestant  Cliurches  in  missionary  work  among  the 
lieatlien  and  Jews,  and,  herself  without  colonial 
connections,  was  the  standard  bearer  of  the  Gospel 
in  Eastern  and  AYestern  India.  Now,  as  is  well 
known,  she  has  for  some  eighty  years  Lack  been 
far  outstripped  in  zeal  for  Church  extension  by  her 
sisters  of  the  Eeform,  and,  althougli  she  has,  within 
recent  times,  sought  to  awaken  anew  her  former 
missionary  interests,  she  has  in  this  but  followed, 
in  part,  other  lands  —  England  and  Holland — to 
which  she  used  to  be  an  example. 

If  now,  from  among  the  German  societies  we  take 
those  which  are  strictly  Lutheran  (the  Berlin  South 
African,  that  of  Gossner,  of  Leipzig,  of  Hermanns- 
burg,  with  the  Society  of  Brethren  in  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  possessing  as  yet  no  special  field  of  labour), 
adding  to  these  the  five  northern  missionary  societies 
(one  in  Denmark,  one  in  Norway,  two  in  Sweden, 
and  one  in  Einland,  of  wliich  the  Norwegian  society 
is  nearly  equal  in  size  to  the  other  four),*  and  the 
Mission  Society  of  tlie  Lutheran  Synod  of  the  United 
States,  the  remarkable  fact  will  appear  that,  at  the 
present  day,  there  are  only  eleven  Lutheran  mission- 
ary  societies  (of  which  the  half  are  small,  and  not  one 
of  which  is  among  the  largest),  with  only  about  200 


*   See   Statistics,    c.f/.,   in   the   AUgeraeine    Missions- Zeitschrift-, 
Kovember  1875,  p.  511. 


Their  Present  State.  43 

ordained  missionaries,  as  against  fifty-jive  Reformed 
Church  societies  (including  the  Church  of  England), 
with  their  2000  ordained  missionaries.  Whilst  hold- 
ing a  middle  position  between  the  two,  stand  the 
four  societies  of  the  United  Evangelical  Church, 
viz.,  the  Moravian  (which,  on  account  of  her  auxi- 
liaries in  Holland,  England,  and  the  United  States, 
must  be  counted  to  the  evangelical  confederation),  the 
Basel,  the  Barmen,  and  the  Bremen,  with  their  350 
missionaries.  All  the  Lutheran  societies  in  the  world 
do  not,  then,  reach  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
in  number  of  her  agents  (207),  and  in  income  not  by 
nearly  one-third  (^^ 60,000  against  ;^  190,000)  !  In- 
deed, if  we  take  all  the  German  missionary  societies 
together,  Lutheran  and  United,  including  that  of  Basel, 
and  not  forgetting  the  youngest  of  the  Swiss  mission- 
ary societies,  that  of  the  Free  Church  of  the  Canton 
de  Vaud,  they  will  make  a  respectable  show  in  point 
of  numbers  (about  530  male  agents),  but  their  united 
incomes  do  not  reach  that  of  one  of  the  great  English 
societies,  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  the  Pro- 
pagation Society,  or  the  AVesleyan.  Each  of  the 
latter  receives  from  ;^  125,000  to  ^2CO,ooo  annually ; 
whilst  the  former  raised,  in  1876,  ;;^  115,000,  which 
in  1879,  owing  to  the  de^^ression  of  trade,  decreased 
by  ;^2000.*     I  refrain  from  doing  more  than  simply 

*  See  Allgemeiue  Missions-Zeitscbrift,  April  1S79,  p.  55,  sqq. 


44  Pivtcstaiit  Foreigji  missions : 

noticing  the  causes  of  this  backwardness  on  the 
part  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  missions.  It  seems 
to  be  connected  with  her  contemplative  character  as 
a  Church,  which  demands  a  subjective  treatment  of 
both  science  and  theology.  She  has  been  too  apt  to 
pride  lierself  on  the  possession  of  "  pure  doctrine," 
and  to  make  it  the  sulject  of  discussion,  while  she 
has  neglected  the  more  independent  organisation  of 
parishes.* 

Nor  do  I  forget,  in  thus  preaching  from  figures, 
that  Germany  is  not  so  rich  a  land  as  Holland,  or 
England,  or  America.  But  I  always  remember  what 
was  once  said  to  me  with  respect  to  tlie  Germans,  in 
their  ecclesiastical  and  missionary  enterprises :  "  A 
German  needs  a  threefold  conversion — (i)  a  conver- 
sion of  the  heart,  like  everybody  else ;  (2)  a  con- 
version of  the  head,  for  his  is  particularly  full  of 
all  sorts  of  doubts ;  (3)  a  conversion  of  the  purse ! " 
Not  that,  by  nature,  Germans  are  less  liberal  than 
otliers,  or  that  their  money-bags  are  provided  with 
particularly  strong  strings.  The  contributions  for 
the  relief  of  any  special  need  flow  as  freely  among 
them  as  elsewhere.  Yet  in  most  districts  and  pro- 
vinces of  the  State  Church  the  members  have  been 
too  little  trained  to  give  for  purely  Church  purposes. 


*  See  Chrifltlieb,  "Misaionsbcruf  des  evangelischcn  Deutschlands, 
1876,  p.  55.  Wl- 


Their  Present  State,  '         45 

The  regular  systematic  collection  of  money,  it  may 
be  small  sums,  from  the  poorer  classes,  which  else- 
where has  been  carried  on  with  such  wonderful  suc- 
cess, has  not  taken  root  in  Germany,  with  its  w^ide- 
spread  fear  of  Methodism  and  a  Christianity  that 
works  by  fixed  rules.  Nor  is  there  there  the  self- 
discipline  of  spontaneous  and  regular  laying  past  of 
a  definite  proportion  of  income,  at  the  very  time  of 
its  reception,  for  Christian  purposes,  in  which,  as 
I  have  reason  to  believe,  consists,  technically,  the 
secret  of  the  greater  liberality  of  the  English- 
speaking  peoples.* 

There  is,  indeed,  no  Protestant  land  in  loliich  the 
interest  in  missions  is  so  unequally  localised  to  parti- 
cular districts  as  in  Geriyiany.  Farthest  down  in  the 
scale  are  to  be  found  those  districts  (particularly 
in  Central  Germany)  where  the  effects  of  rational- 
ism are  most  distinctly  felt.  The  missionary  spirit 
advances  somewhat  more  boldly  in  several  of  the 
decidedly  Lutheran  districts,  as  in  Hanover,  in 
Schleswig-Holstein ;  more  slowly  again  in  Meck- 
lenburg, East  Prussia,  and  Saxony.  Far  ahead 
of  these  are  the  Churches  which  are  either  mildly 
Lutheran  or  "  United,"  as  in  Wurtemberg,  Ehine- 
land,  Westphalia   (particularly  in  the    Siegen   and 


*  See  Chi-istlieb,    "Missionsberuf,"  pp.   78,   79;  aud  Warueck, 
BelebuDg  des  Missionssinues,"  p.  75,  sq^q. 


46  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

Eavensberg  districts);  hence  the  following  curious 
gradation  : — in  Wurtemberg  the  missionary  contribu- 
tions of  the  Protestant  population  amount,  per  head, 
to  from  2d.  to  2 Jd. ;  in  Ehineland  and  Westphalia,  to 
nearly  sd. ;  in  Bremen,  from  4d.  to  5d. ;  Hamburg, 
Hanover,  Oldenburg,  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  Baden, 
to  id.;  in  the  six  eastern  provinces  of  Prussia  and 
in  Bavaria,  to  Jd. ;  in  Mecklenburg  and  the  king- 
dom of  Saxony,  to  only  about  a  fifth  part  of  a 
penny  !  *  Even  in  one  and  the  same  province  this 
curious  variety  is  observable;  e.g.,  in  Hanover,  the 
old  principality  of  Osnabriick,  with  an  income  for 
missions  of  ;6'56oo  per  annum,  the  average  per  head 
is  about  id.,  whilst  in  Gottingen  it  amounts  only 
to  about  the  seventh  part  of  a  penny;  in  Pthine- 
landf  (i  877-1 878),  in  the  synod  of  Gladbach,  from 
2d.  to  2|d. ;  in  Elberf eld- Barmen,  to  almost  2d., 
while  in  Aix-la-Chapelle  it  is  only  a  fourth  or  a 
third  of  a  penny ;  in  Braunfels  only  one-tenth  of 
a  penny ;  in  some  others  even  less !  Altogether, 
the  average  over  the  whole  of  the  Protestant  popula- 
tion of  Germany  and  Switzerland  is  about  Jl.,  and  is 
not  so  large  even  as  the  amount  contributed  by  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  Norway — about  id.  per  member. 


*  See  Warneck,  as  above,  p.  21  sqq. 

t  See  "  AUgeni.  ev.  luth.  Kirclieiizeituiig,"  June  I3tli,  1^79,  p. 
544,  sqq.,  and  the  tables  in  the  treatise,  "  Die  rbeiuische  Mission 
iiu  Sommer,"  1879,  p.  14. 


Their  Present  State,  47 

But  ^ylle^e,  beyond  Germany,  is  there  a  land  in 
which  missionary  effort  has  still  to  struggle  with 
so  many  stubborn  prejudices  in  public,  especially 
in  educated  public  opinion,  with  so  much  slander 
from  a  powerful  press,  with  so  much  ignorance,  and, 
consequently,  with  so  much  disdain  on  the  part  of 
influential  men  of  letters  ?  Not  Ion  2:  ac^o  a  member 
of  the  Eeichstag,  a  Jew,  remarked,  during  the  debate 
on  the  Treaty  with  the  Samoa  Islands,  amidst  the 
laughter  of  the  honourable  House,  that  there  was  "  a 
great  deal  of  humour  in  the  treatment  the  subject  of 
missions  received  in  the  Government  memorial ! "  * 
I  myself  have  spoken  to  several  highly-esteemed 
professors,  in  various  universities,  who  knew  as  good 
as  nothing  about  missions,  and  who  were  much 
astonished  to  hear  from  me  that  Christianity  was 
spreading,  and  had  even  yet  its  martyrs !  I  have 
actually  heard,  too,  in  a  theological  society,  a  learned 
Catholic  professor  repeat,  as  an  incontrovertible  fact, 
the  old  story — now  fortunately  become  a  myth — of  the 
want  of  success  of  Protestant  missions  !  What,  then, 
may  we  expect  from  ignorant  and  unchristian  news- 
paper writers  ?     Within  the  last  few  years  the  many 


*  **  AUgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,"  August  1879,  p.  384.  The 
question  is  often  put.  Why  has  Germany  as  yet  no  colonies  ?  One 
providential  reason,  doubtless,  is  this,  that  in  influential  circles 
great  prejudices  still  exist  against  missions,  and  that  the  Germans 
have  so  few  Christian  officials  for  the  administration  of  colonies. 


48  rrotestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

and  deeply-rooted  obstacles  to  a  warmer  missionary 
spirit  have  been  often  exposed.*  I  shall  not  repeat 
them  here.  I  Avould  only  lay  great  stress  on  the 
shameful  fact,  that  the  ''liberal"  press,  which  is  still 
the  greatest  power  in  forming  public  opinion,  is,  for 
the  most  part,  in  Germany  in  the  hands  of  the  reform 
Jews,  the  bitterest  of  all  the  opponents  of  missions. 
Is  it,  then,  to  be  expected  that  the  educated  classes 
of  Germany  will  give  a  juster  treatment  to  the  sub- 
ject of  missions,  will  take  more  largely  into  con- 
sideration this  great  factor  in  the  Christian  eccle- 
siastical history  of  our  time,  or  acknowledge  to  a 
greater  degree  the  purely  civilising  inlhience  which 
Protestant  missions  have  had,  so  long  as  they  do  not 
seek  to  free  themselves  from  the  Jewish  spirit  of  the 
age,  and  have  not  the  courage  to  endeavour  to  per- 
suade friends  and  acquaintances  to  read  those  papers 
and  magazines  which  treat  Christian  endeavours  with 
respect,  or  at  least  with  decency  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  not  wanting  in  Ger- 
many cheerinfj  signs  of  a  growing  recognition  of  the 
subject  of  missions.  The  attitude  which  the  Cliurch 
assumes  towards  missions  becomes,  on  the  whole, 
always  more  friendly.  Among  the  people,  especially 
in  country  districts,  the  cause  of  missions  has,  in 


*  Christlieb,  "Mitsionsleruf,"  p.  54,  .sr^^/.;  Waiiicck,  "Bclebujig 
des  MissioneniDneB,"  p.  37,  sqq. 


Their  Present  State.  49 

thousands  of  places,  become  more  and  more  popular. 
The  simple  instinct  of  a  Christian  rural  population 
can  look  deeper  than  the  self-satisfied  culture  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town.  In  the  East  the  interest  in 
missions  seems  to  be  rather  increasing,  whilst  in  the 
West  it  is  hardly  equal  to  that  of  former  times.  Ener- 
getic endeavours  are  now  being  made  for  the  revival 
of  the  Berlin  China  mission,  which  a  few  years  ago 
w^as  merged  into  that  of  Barmen.  Not  entirely 
without  effect,  too,  are  the  praises  of  missionary 
labour,  publicly  expressed  by  several  colonial  govern- 
ments and  by  one  or  two  eminent  men  of  science, 
such  as  Max  Mtiller,  and  even  Mr.  Darwin.*  In  some 
quarters,  daily  political  papers,  otherwise  totally  in- 
different {e.g.,  the  Cologne  and  Magdeburg  journals), 
open  their  columns  to  the  competent  opinions  of 
friends  of  missions.  Lectures  on  missions  are  here 
and  there,  though  slowly,  being  introduced  into  the 
universities.  Above  all,  the  importance  of  missions 
with  regard  to  commerce  is  being  more  and  more 
recognised  by  merchants ;  and  political  economists 
in  their  writings  are  beginning  to  speak  of  the 
value  of  them.-f  It  has  been  calculated,  that  each 
missionary  in  the  South  Seas   causes   a    return,  in 

*  See  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1875,  P-  9^  ;  1876,  p,  146, 
zqq.,  326,  sqq.;   1877,  p.  52,  sqq. 

+  See  Warneck,  "  Die  gegenseitigen  Beziehungen  zwischen  der 
mudernen  Mission  und  der  Cultur,"  1879,  p.  42,  zqq. 


50  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

commerce,  of  about  ^10,000  annually,*  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  objection  founded  on  the  unpro- 
ductiveness of  the  money  expended  on  missions 
will  thus  soon  be  practically  refuted.  Many  dis- 
tricts in  which  missionary  interest,  even  among 
the  clergy,  was  very  feeble  are  waking  up  to  greater 
activity.  In  March  1 879  there  was  held  in  Halle 
— the  cradle  of  all  missionary  effort  in  Germany — 
a  conference  of  ministers,  professors,  and  laymen, 
for  the  purpose  of  reviving  the  missionary  spirit  in 
the  province  of  Saxony ;  whilst  the  synod  set  down 
on  its  programme,  as  subject  for  discussion,  "  The 
Church's  Duty  with  regard  to  Foreign  Missions  " — 
examples  which  are  both  of  them  worthy  of  being 
followed. 

And  yet,  much  has  been  neglected  here,  and 
much  cause  there  is  for  shame.  IIow  few  profes- 
sors, even  theological  professors,  have  the  courage 
to  expose  themselves  to  the  contempt  which,  in  the 
cold  heights  of  science,  attaches  to  missions, — simply 
for  the  sake  of  Christ  and  His  holy  Word,  and 
though  it  should  be  in  tlie  face  of  an  unbelieving 
world  !  How  many,  in  their  haughty  pride,  fancy  it 
beneath  their  notice,  little  dreaming  what  inihience 
this  work,  this  self-justification  of  faith,  may  have, 
and  is  even  now  having,  on  many  departments  of 

*  According  to  the  Kcv.  Mr.  Whituier,  formerly  uii.ssionary  to 
Samoa. 


Their  Present  State,  5 1 

theology !  Little  wonder  that  a  candidate  for  the 
mission  field  hardly  ever  comes  from  the  German 
universities,  whilst  America  has  always  been  accus- 
tomed to  draw  her  best  missionaries  from  an  "  Alma 
Mater."  Little  wonder  that  those  tender  plants,  the 
small  German  university  missionary  societies,  are 
not  to  be  mentioned  in  comparison  with  the  great 
academical  associations  in  Scotland,  in  Oxford,  in 
Cambridge,  and  the  United  States  !  And  how  inac- 
tive is  a  large  part  of  the  German  clergy !  Whence 
that  great  difference  in  missionary  zeal,  of  Churches 
often  in  the  same  province  ?  I  answer  : —  Cliiefly  from  i^^v. 
the  difference  in  the  position  taken  up  hy  the  clergy.  Aslt^"^^ 
they  are  in  the  exercise  of  Christian  charity,  so  does 
their  Church  soon  become.  If  the  pastor  himself  be 
not  interested  in  following  the  progress  of  modern 
missions,  he  deprives  himself  of  that  strength  to 
faith  and  refreshment  of  soul  which  comes  from 
pausing  on  his  lonely  watch,  and  catchiDg  as  he 
listens  the  far-off  sound  of  the  building  of  the  city 
of  God.  If  he  give  but  a  cursory  glance  at  the 
report,  to  see  if  it  contain  anything  that  may  be 
directly  useful  for  a  missionary  meeting — if  such 
meetings  be  to  him  an  additional  burden,  rather  than 
a  matter  near  his  heart,  and  of  this  difference  the 
congregation  has  a  very  keen  perception — if  he  speak 
only  on  the  labours  of  the  home  missions,  these 
being  more  likely  to  please  the  lukewarm  members 


52  Protestant  Foreign  Alissions: 

of  his  congregation — if  lie  preach  on  the  suLject  of 
missions  only  in  Epiphany  perhaps,  without  ever 
referring  to  it  in  his  other  regular  Sunday  minis- 
trations, forgetting  that  the  missionary  idea  runs 
through  the  whole  New  Testament,  indeed  is  the 
very  basis  of  it — if  he  think  that  the  interest  of  his 
parish  in  missions  will  be  kept  up  by  an  official 
report,  which  few  read,  or  from  the  missionary  fes- 
tival wliich  may,  from  time  to  time,  be  held  in  his 
church, — he  will  find  it  increasingly  difficult  to  main- 
tain the  missionary  spirit  at  its  present  height,  not 
to  speak  of  enabling  its  development  to  keep  pace 
with  the  needs  of  the  society  to  which  his  congre- 
gation belongs.  Then  comes  the  state  of  matters 
which  is  but  too  common ;  the  work  abroad  spreads, 
the  needs  and  claims  of  societies  increase,  but  their 
income  remains  the  same,  here  and  there  diminishes 
even,  and  the  deficits  are  permanent ! 

Without  doubt,  the  prosperous  development  of  the 
missionary  spirit  depends  most  of  all  on  the  position 
taken  up  personally  by  the  minister  of  the  Word. 
He  can  make  up  for  much  that  has  been  omitted  at 
the  university.  Bat  it  is  not  right  that  tJic  congrc- 
fjation  should  depend  chiefly  on  the  societies  for  the 
awakening  and  niaintcnancc  of  interest  in  the  king- 
dom of  the  Lord.  This  is,  and  ever  must  remain,  essen- 
tially the  duty  of  the  Church  at  home  and  of  her 
mvaistcrs.     We  should  endeavour,  as  far  as  possible, 


Their  Present  State.  53 

to  free  tlie  different  societies  from  this  burden,  in 
order  that  they  may  be  the  better  able  to  devote  all 
their  time  and  strenc^th  to  work  amono^  the  heathen ! 
The  state  of  matters  at  home  is,  with  regard  to 
morality,  crying  enough;  and  all  respect  is  due  to 
home  missions,  and  all  zeal  to  the  accomplishment 
of  their  ever-growing  task.  But  is  it  not  a  weaken- 
ing of  the  Church  to  consult  only  her  own  wants?* 
Has  not  the  renouncing  of  all  outward  interests,  like 
the  mildew,  a  reflex  action  within  ?  Is  it  not  the 
very  nature  of  the  Word  of  Life  to  run  and  spread  ? 
You  cannot  gather  water  together  into  heaps, — un- 
less you  allow  it  to  freeze  !  The  more  we  spend  our 
religion,  the  more  will  we  have  over,  and  the  more 
richly  will  it  return  to  us  again. 

And  this  applies,  likewise,  to  financial  efforts.  jSTo 
one  has,  we  are  sure,  been  reduced  to  beggary  by  too 
large  donations  to  missions.  And  if  any  one  believes 
that  the  "  missionary  contribution  screw  " — that  un- 
pleasant instrument  to  so  many — cannot  bear  one 
turn  more,  let  him  be  so  good  as  to  remember  that 
in  Ehineland,  e.g.,  more  is  spent  within  a  few  days, 
during  the  Carnival,  on  pieces  of  foolery,  than  is 
given  during  the  wdiole  year  for  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions, Protestant  or  Catholic,  and  that  England  lays 


*  See  the  excellent  remarks  on  this  subject  by  Dr.  Thomson  at 
the  Mildmay  Missionary  Conference,  Proceedings,  p.  103. 


54  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

out  ;^  70,000,000  annually  for  intoxicating  drinks,  and 
not  so  much  as  ^1,000,000  for  foreign  missions!* 
No,  it  is  not  money  we  need ;  it  is  a  heartfelt  under- 
standing and  heartfelt  love  for  the  work.  "Were 
all  our  people  of  education  and  means  friendly  to 
missions,  our  contributions  would  increase  tenfold ! 
Let  it  still,  therefore,  be  our  endeavour  to  awaken 
interest  among  the  rich  and  the  educated  on  all 
sides,  and  to  show  to  scholars,  philologists,  geo- 
graphers, historians,  and  naturalists  that,  even  from 
a  scientific  point  of  view,  the  world  cannot  be  con- 
quered without  the  aid  of  Christian  missions ;  to 
'pvove  to  them  that  their  own  scientific  interests — if 
their  faith  as  Christians  do  not — their  desire  for  new 
objects  of  investigation,-)-  should  preach  to  them  the 
infinite  worth  of  missions,  and  to  impress  upon  them 
that  some  share  in  the  work  is  due,  on  their  part, 
from  reasons  of  simple  gratitude. 

Something  will,  no  doubt,  be  accomplished  among 
these  circles  in  the  way  of  extending  their  interest 


*  According  to  Dr.  Angus  ("New  York  Alliance,"  p.  585) 
/■75,ooo,ooo  annually. 

t  Of  course,  we  do  not  thus  mean  to  "beg  for  indemnity  for 
missions  among  men  of  letters;"  see  Warneck,  "Mission  undCultur," 
p.  II,  sqq.  The  one  aim  of  missions  is  and  ever  will  remain  the 
siving  of  the  lost,  and  giving  happiness  to  man,  not  the  promotion 
of  culture  as  such.  But  as  the  latter  is  the  natural  consequence  of 
the  former,  every  friend  of  culture  should  likewise  be  a  friend  of 
missions. 


Their  Present  State.  55 

in  missions,  although,  to  judge  by  past  experience, 
not  very  much.  Therefore,  in  order  to  conclude  this 
glance  at  the  home  Church  with  a  few  practical 
hints,  I  would  say,  first — 

I.  Missions  should,  as  a  matter  of  course,  be  a 
work  in  which  the  whole  congregation  is  interested  ;  as 
is  the  case,  e.g.,  in  the  different  Churches  of  the 
United  States,*  and  other  lands  where  Free  Churches 
exist.  Let  it  not  be  expected,  however,  especially  in 
a  National  Church,  that  all,  including  mere  nominal 
Christians,  will  show  any  deep  interest  in  the  work, 
or  understanding  of  it.  These  depend  entirely  on  a 
personal  faith  in  the  Gospel  to  overcome  the  world, 
on  a  belief  of  the  promises  of  Scripture,  on  a  love  to 
the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  on  gratitude  for  grace 
already  vouchsafed.  Whoever  cannot  take  his  stand 
here,  is  the  ohject  of  missions,  and  not  the  suhject  of 
them.  The  true,  generous  possessor  of  the  mission- 
ary spirit  is  not  the  Church,  "talis  qualis,"  mixed 
and  of  the  world  as  she  is,  but  the  "  communio 
Sanctorum  et  vere  credentium."  It  is  not  the  ivorld, 
hid  the  true  believers  in  the  Church,  ivho  must  carry 

*  "  Missions  are  carried  on  in  America  by  the  Churches  themselves 
as  a  regular  Church  work,  mstead  of  being  left  to  voluntary  socie- 
ties, as  in  the  National  Churches  of  Europe.  Each  pastor  and  each 
congregation  are  supposed  to  be  interested  in  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel  at  home  and  abroad,  and  to  contribute  towards  it  according 
to  their  ability." — Br.  Schaff,  "  Christianity  in  the  United  States," 
p.  49. 


56  Pro  test  ant  Forcigii  JMissioiis : 

on  missions;  and  lie  ^vlio  would  aid  tliem  in  their 
labour  of  love,  and  assist  in  furthering  it,  must,  by 
an  inward  life  of  faith,  become  one  of  themselves. 
If  that  be  omitted,  we  are  without  the  never- failimj 
spring,  the  fundamental  condition  of  all  really  suc- 
cessful missionary  effort. 

II.  In  the  tiJiircrsifij  the  missionary  spirit  should  he 
encoiiraged  to  a  much  greater  e^rtent  than  at  present. 
More  especially  should  this  be  attempted  among 
theoloojical  students,  althou<ih  the  too  short  course  of 
their  studies  opposes  many  hindrances  to  its  success- 
ful accomplishment.  From  the  theological  chairs, 
and  not  only  from  that  of  pastoral  theology,  where 
the  subject  is  often  treated,  but  from  those  of  exe- 
gesis and  history  {e.g.,  in  expounding  the  Acts,  the 
pastoral  Epistles,  and  the  I'ruphets),  missions  may 
fairly  claim  more  attention  than  they  have  as  yet 
received. 

III.  In  the  vxeldy  j)ulint  ministrations,  and  in  the 
class  for  religious  instruction,  missions  should  find  a 
larger  plo'^e,  in  order  that  the  missionary  idea  may 
become  an  integral  factor  of  Christian  Church  life, 
rather  than,  as  just  now  is  the  case,  one  which  is 
present  only  on  the  isolated  occasion  of  a  missionary 
meeting.  "The  preaching  of  the  kingdom" — taking 
that  word  in  its  Biblical  sense,  and  not  with  the 
modern  flavour  which  has  been  added  to  it — "must 
heighten  interest  in  that  kingdom,  which  should  in 


Their  Present  Slate,  57 

turn  be  kept  alive  and  increased  by  intelligence  as 
to  how  the  kingdom  prospers."  Where  the  ministers 
of  the  Word  recognise  this  duty,  and  fulfil  it  with 
vigour  and  energy,  there  will  be  no  lack  of  indivi- 
duals to  breathe  new  life  into  the,  in  great  part,  so 
spiritless  societies.  Church  authorities  should  insist 
upon  it  that,  on  at  least  one  Sunday  in  the  year, 
a  missionary  sermon  be  preached  and  a  collection 
taken.* 

IV.  In  many  parts  of  Germany  it  is  desirable 
that  the,  su2:>port  giveti  should  he  concentrated  more  on 
one  particidar  mission.  In  some  places  there  is  no 
living  missionary  energy  perceptible,  just  because, 
while  efforts  are  made  in  many  directions,  nothing 
of  consequence  is  accomplished.  The  frittering  away 
of  strength  is  adverse  to  the  growth  of  missionary 
interest.  Wideness  of  heart  may  be  commended  to 
those  who  are  wrapped  up  in  exclusive  selfishness ; 
but  it  is  a  fact,  that  the  Churches  which  are  most 
zealous  in  the  cause  of  missions,  are  those  which 
devote  their  chief  interest  to  one  particular  society. 

V.  Along  with  an  increased  circulation  of  mis- 
sionary periodicals  (in  Germany  the  subscribers 
number  thousands,  in  America  tens  of  thousands), 
it  contributes  much  to  the  promotion  of  a  mission- 

*  At  the  first  reguUir  General  Syuod  at  Berlin  (for  the  old 
Pruhsiau  provinces),  a  motion  referring  to  this  sul  ject  was  all  but 
unanimously  adopted,  October  1879. 


58  Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

ary  spirit,  iclicn  some  of  tlie  richer  Churches  undertake 
to  s^qiport  a  missionanj  or  even  a  station,  which 
occasionally  is  done.  The  United  Presbyterian 
Cliurch  of  Scotland,  ^Yhich,  in  spite  of  the  compara- 
tive poverty  of  many  of  her  members,  takes  such  a 
prominent  place  in  missionary  zeal,  has  for  fifty  years 
laid  the  support  of  her  West  Indian  missionaries 
on  the  special  funds  *  of  particular  congregations. 
Its,  generally  speaking,  so  warm  missionary  spirit 
is,  no  doubt,  in  a  cjreat  measure  connected  with  this 
practice.  It  is  also  much  to  be  commended  when 
rich  individuals,  who  have  the  missionary  cause  at 
heart,  talce  on  themselves  the  whole  cost  of  training  a 
missionary,  as  lately  a  Dutchman  did  for  the  Barmen 
mission.  This  would  soon  do  away  with  deficits 
and  fears  of  retrenchment ;  although,  the  societies 
which  depend  on  numerous  small  contributions  rest 
on  a  more  secure  foundation  than  those  which 
derive  the  greater  part  of  their  revenue  from  the 
large  contributions  of  wealthy  individuals. 

VI.  Lastly — and  here  we  make  the  transition  to 
the  technical  means  of  conducting  home  missionary 
agencies — it  is  high  time  that  in  many  missionary 
circles  the  idea,  which  has  now  become  almost 
traditional,   should    be   given    \\\),    that   any  j^ious, 


*  See  M'Kerrow,  "History  of  the  Foreign  Missions  of  tlie 
Secession  and  United  Presbyterian  Churcli,"  Edinburgh,  1867, 
pp.  246,  265,  271,  274,  &c. 


Their  Present  State.  59 

really  converted  young  man,  lioiuever  feiv  his  gifts,  may 
he  employed  in  the  mission  field.  This  error,  against 
which  I  would  recommend  a  perusal  of  Living- 
stone's "  Missionary  Sacrifices,"  *  lately  published,  as 
a  powerful  eyesalve,  has  often  proved  a  misfortune 
and  a  loss  for  missions,  which  stand  in  need  of  the 
very  best  which  our  Christian  youth  can  offer ! 

If  now  we  turn  from  Churches  at  home  to  the 
missionary  societies,  we  find  that  the  time  for  found- 
ing new  societies  has  not  ceased.  In  England  there 
have  arisen  :  in  1 865  the  China  Inland  Mission  of 
Mr.  Hudson  Taylor,  which  now  employs  49  male 
European  missionaries ;  f  within  the  last  ten  years, 
the  East  London  Institute  for  Home  and  Foreign 
Missions  of  Mr.  Grattan  Guiness — similar  to  the  St. 
Chrishona's  Institute,^  which  a  short  time  ago  began 
a  Congo  mission  in  South  Africa ; — and  one  or  two 
new  missionary  enterprises  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge  § 
since  1877;  in  America,  the  Missions  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Society;  in  Switzerland,  that  of  the  Free 
Church  of  Yaud ;  in  Germany,  the  Breckluj^'s  Mis- 
sion. However  encouraging  this  may  in  one  sense 
be,  it  is  to  be   hoped   that  the   missionary    forces 

*  See  Catholic  Presbyterian,  No.  i.,  1879. 

t  See  China's  Millioos,  August  1879.  Added  to  this  20  females, 
48  native  pastors  and  evangelists,  37  teachers,  colporteurs,  &c. 

X  Seminary  for  evangelists,  &c.,  near  Basel. 

§  See  further  particulars,  Evangel.  Mission.  Mngazir,  July  1878, 
p.  257,  sqq. 


6o  Protestant  Foreioji  Missions 


^> 


will  not  be  further  subdivided  (a  remark  Avliich  is 
specially  applicable  to  the  present  critical  condition 
of  Hanoverian  missions).  The  smaller  the  society, 
the  more  costly  are  its  undertakings.  Wliy  found 
new  societies,  Avhen  those  already  in  existence  have 
enough  to  do  to  keep  their  work  in  its  present  state 
of  efficiency  ?  New  societies  should  be  formed,  not 
in  Christendom,  but  in  heathen  lands  already  Chris- 
tianised. 

If  we  now  take  a  glance  at  the  great  missionary 
societies  of  the  Old  and  the  New  World,  we  find 
the  greatest  diversity  in  their  inivard  organisation, 
according  to  the  cliaracter  of  the  Church  and  the 
land  to  which  they  belong.  How  different  is  even 
the  training  for  missionarg  service !  The  great 
American  societies,  i.e.,  the  American  Board  in 
Boston  (with  144  ordained  missionaries);*  the 
Baptist  Missionary  Union,  also  in  Boston  (with  141 
missionaries  in  Asia) ;  t  the  Presbyterian  Society 
in  New  York  (with  122  missionaries);!  and,  as  far 
as  I  know,  the  l^piscopal  IMcthodist  Society  (with 
194     missionaries), §    draw    all    their    agents    froin 


*  See  Annual  Report  of  1878,  p.  1 1 2. 

t  See  the  Missionary  Herald,  August  1S79,  p.  308. 

X  See  Annual  Report,  1879,  p.  83. 

§  This  includes  the  niiseiionaiies  atiiong  otlicr  denominations  in 
Christian  countries  (Europe  and  South  America),  altogether  114, 
but   not   the  42  assistanta   of   the    niissionaricH,  leaving  80   mis- 


Their  Present  State,  6 1 

the  universities  and  the  theological  faculties  of  their 
respective  denominations.  The  same  is  the  case  in 
Scotland.  In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  mission- 
aries are  trained  in  iparticidar  seminaries.  And  so  it 
must  be,  for  hardly  ever  does  a  candidate  enter  the 
foreign  mission  field  from  the  university,  especially 
now,  when  their  numbers  hardly  suffice  for  the 
Churches  at  home ;  whilst  the  Angjlican  Church,  in 
addition  to  those  drawn  from  her  institutions,  re- 
ceives a  considerable  number  from  the  university.  A 
characteristic  difference  this,  and  one  easily  com- 
prehended. In  the  Free  Churches  the  theological 
faculties  form  a  distinct  unity.  Faithful  Christian 
men  labour  together  in  them,  to  build  up  their 
Church,  and  not  to  extend  any  particular  branch  of 
science.  Thus  the  students,  even  while  at  the  univer- 
sity, grow  up  in  the  spirit  and  faith  of  their  Church, 
and  can  be,  without  difficulty,  employed  in  her 
service,  even  in  partihus  infidelium.  And  in  Ger- 
many ?  There  the  difference  in  the  composition  of 
the  various  faculties,  made  up  as  they  are  of  theo- 
logians  of   all  schools,  renders  difficult   any   satis- 


sionariea  among  the  heathen.  See  "Missionary  Herald,"  June 
1879,  p.  229.  The  "  Christliche  Apologete"  (2d  June  1879)  gives 
the  number  of  missionaries  as  256  ;  the  Annual  Report  of  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  1877, 
p.  185,  mentions  278  (of  these  98  missionaries  to  the  heathen), 
besides  173  assistants. 


62  Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

faction  in  the  service  of  the  Church  even  at  home. 
Distracted  between  the  opposing  opinions  of  his 
teachers,  the  unfortunate  student  is  often  hard  enough 
put  to  it  to  preserve  the  last  foundation  of  belief. 
Hardly  can  he  ever  rise  to  the  enthusiasm  of  a  faith 
which  overcomes  the  world,  ready  to  make  any 
sacrifice — the  first  condition  of  a  true  missionary 
spirit ! 

Whether  a  system  of  supervision  leave  the  mis- 
sionary in  comparative  independence,  or  hind  him  to 
act  only  in  accordance  with  given  orders,  depends 
largely  on  whether  the  directorate  of  the  society  be 
purely  an  administrative  body,  or  one  which  also 
imparts  theological  instruction.  Those  who  have 
trained  a  missionary  will,  not  unnaturally,  claim  tlie 
right  of  closely  watching  his  career.  The  societies 
which  present  the  most  marked  contrasts  in  this 
respect  are,  on  the  one  hand,  the  American  Board  in 
Boston  and  the  London  Missionary  Society,  with 
their  large-hearted  liberality ;  and,  on  the  other,  the 
Basel  Society,  with  its  exact  regulations,  even  to  the 
smallest  details  for  each  station.  In  the  one  case  it 
is  self-government,  in  the  other  strict  centralisation, 
that  is  aimed  at.  ^Many  American  missionaries  could 
not  long  put  up  with  the  discipline  of  the  Basel 
Training  Institute,  whilst  some  Suabiau  missionaries 
would  certainly  feel  themselves  somewhat  at  a  loss 
in   the   midst   of   American  freedom.     We  should, 


Their  Present  State.  63 

however,  beware  of  all  one-sided  criticisms.  National 
peculiarities  and  ecclesiastical  views  and  habits  are 
too  diverse  to  allow  of  our  here  setting  up  any  prin- 
ciples for  universal  application.  But  this  much 
experience  ought  to  tell  us,  that  where  the  aim  is 
not  merely  the  conversion  of  the  individual,  but  also 
the  formation  of  churches  and  the  extension  of  the 
influence  of  a  mission,  too  much  should  not  be 
left  to  the  missionary  himself.*  On  the  other  hand, 
if  the  Church  at  home  be  over-careful  to  prescribe 
everything,  even  the  smallest  details,  this  is  not  only 
a  testimony  to  the  incapacity  of  the  missionary,  but 
an  impediment  to  the  work  abroad,  as  well  as  an 
oppressive  burden  to  those  who  are  at  the  head  of 
affairs  at  home, — in  either  case,  therefore,  a  draw- 
back. Actincj  on  the  old  maxim,  "  medio  tutissimus 
ibis,"  the  most  of  the  societies  seek  to  pursue  a  safe 
middle  course  between  unfettered  liberty  and  com- 
plete restriction.-f- 

If  I  were  to  say  a  word  here  on  the  cost  of  mis- 
sions and  the  difference  in  the  salaries  of  missionaries, 

*  Cf.  the  strict  principles  of  Dr.  Graul,  * '  Nachrichten  der 
Ostiud.  Missions- Anstalt  zu  Halle,"  i86q|  p.  133, 

t  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  some  societies  place  their  mis- 
sionaries directly  and  entirely  under  the  supervision  of  the  com- 
mittee at  home  {e.g.,  the  Baptist  Society  of  Boston),  whilst  the  most 
of  the  others  appoint  the  missionaries  of  one  particular  district,  to 
exercise  an  intermediate  authority  over  each  missionary ;  a  system 
which  has  proved  to  be  a  very  good  one. 


64  Protestant  Foreign  Jllissions : 

I  could  witli  a  good  conscience  hold  up  German 
economy  as  a  pattern  to  many  societies.  Comparing 
the  expenses  of  the  Basel  Gold  Coast  mission  with 
those  of  its  neighbours,  the  Wesley ans ;  or  the  outlay 
of  the  Berlin  and  Barmen  South  African  agencies 
with  those  of  the  English  societies,  we  find  that  tlce 
Germans  work  more  clica'phj  than  the  English  or 
Americans,  and — because  their  agents  receive  less 
pay  —  witli  the  same  amount  of  money  employ 
double  the  number  of  men.  The  Koman  Catholic 
missionaries  alone,  who  of  course  are  unmarried,  are 
content  with  allowances  equally  small*  I  would 
only  here  warn  against  the  danger  of  carrying  eco- 
nomy so  far  as  to  deprive  the  missionary  of  what 
he  should  not  be  without,  and  of  thereby  ruining  his 
health  and  destroying  all  comfort  in  his  work.-|- 
Taking  into  consideration  the  state  of  the  heathen 
lands,!  care  should  be  had  to  preserve  the  right 
measure  between  too  great  liberality  and  overmuch 
economy ! 

Though  the    German  missions   present    but   few 


*  Monier  "Williams  ('"'  Modern  India  and  the  Indians,"  1S79), 
Bays  of  them,  "  They  are  content  with  wonderfully  small  pay." 

+  Cf.  e.g.,  the  remarks  of  Dr.  Wangcmann  at  the  I\Iil(hnay 
Conference,  Proceedings,  1 878,  p.  50. 

X  All  absolute  equalisation  of  the  salaries,  as,  c.^.,  introduced 
by  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  (.*!iooo),  can  only  be 
recommended  where  there  is  complete  similarity  in  all  outwaid 
circumstances. 


Their  Present  State.  65 

outward  attractions,  it  is  a  fact  worthy  of  attention, 
that  the  applications  for  admission  into  the  seminaries 
continue  sufficiently  numerous  to  allow  of  a  careful 
selection  being  made.  Within  the  last  twenty  years 
even  (not  to  speak  of  a  time  further  back),  while 
complaints  have  been  heard  in  England  of  the 
scarcity  of  labourers  for  the  missionary  field,  Ger- 
many has  often  been  able  to  come  to  the  aid  of 
others.  In  the  one  country  there  is  a  lack  of  troops 
for  the  holy  war,  in  the  other  there  is  a  want  of 
money  only  to  despatch  the  forces  already  to  hand. 
Still,  a  selection  cannot  be  too  carefully  made,  for  in 
a  number  of  missions  it  is  unquestionably  the  result 
of  experience,  which  the  present  deficiency  in  funds 
makes  every  day  more  plain,  that  it  is  better  to  send 
out  a  feio  thoroughly  capable  missionaries  than  many 
mediocre  ones !  This  the  zenana  female  missions 
to-day  confirm. 

In  noticing  the  training  for  the  missionary  service 
itself,  the  principles  inculcated  on  the  individual  for 
guidance  in  conduct  and  the  whole  conception  of 
his  work,  I  shall  not  enter  more  particularly  into 
the  consideration  of  the  many  opinions,  old  and  new, 
which  have  been  held  on  the  subject  of  our  methods. 
Amons^  those  wdio  are  themselves  ens^asjed  in  the 
work,  w^ho  know  the  real  state  of  matters  in  heathen 
lands,  and  who  do  not  sit  in  their  studies  drawing 
up  new  plans    and   methods,    there    fortunately  is. 


66  Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

both  at  homo  and  abroad,  a  gratifying  agreement  on 
all  essential  points.  I  may,  e.g.,  mention  the  fact, 
that  tlie  great  question  as  to  whether  the  aim  and 
end  of  a  mission  should  be  the  conversion  of  indivi- 
duals, or  the  Christianising  of  whole  nations*  will 
be,  indeed  has  been,  decided  by  the  practice  and 
experience  of  nearly  all  modern  societies,  and 
by  the  missionary  history  of  the  first  Christian 
centuries.  It  is  not  a  question  here  of  selecting 
the  one  thing  or  the  other,  but  of  taking  the  one 
thing  after  the  other.  According  to  tlie  example 
of  the  apostles,  by  the  conversion  of  individuals 
the  whole  spirit  and  character  of  a  people  must  be 
brought  under  Christian  discipline,  purified,  rendered 
fertile  and  renewed,  if  the  leavening  influence  of  the 
Gospel  is  to  permeate  public  and  social  life.  But 
for  this  purpose,  the  only  sure  and  solid  basis  lies 
in  the  formation  of  individual  Cliurches,  as  centres 
of  new  light  and  life  from  God — as  fountain-heads, 
as  "well-rooms,"  as  Bengel  says,  of  regenerating 
power  for  the  wliole  people.f 

There   is,  moreover,   on   all   hands,   no    want   of 


*  Cf.  Graul,  p.  129. 

t  Cf.  the  principles  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  "A  Brief 
view  of  the  Principles  and  Proceedings  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,"  1877,  p.  19.  "All  its  evangelistic  eHurts  are  to  aim, 
firsl,  at  the  conversicjn  of  individual  soah,  and  sccondhj,  though 
contemporaneously,  at  the  organisation  of  the  permanent  native 
Christian  Church,  sd/sujiportiufj,  sd/-governin(j,  sc/f-cdcndinr/" 


Their  Present  State.  67 

new  proposals  for  the  achption  of  different  metliocls. 
For  some,  those  at  present  in  operation  are  not 
biblical  nor  apostolic  enough  in  their  simplicity; 
for  others,  they  are  too  biblical  and  too  orthodox. 
The  former  class  of  objections  emanate  chiefly 
from  Enoland  and  America.*  Missionaries  should, 
it  is  said,  earn  their  own  livelihood,  or  look  for  it 
from  those  among  whom  they  labour.  All  very 
good  and  heroic,  no  doubt,  where  it  is  practi- 
cable. But  he  who  w^ould  establish  such  action 
as  a  general  rule,  must  not  forget  that  apostolic 
methods  presuppose — (i)  Apostolic  men,  and  (2) 
Apostolic  circumstances.  If  a  Paul  preached  in  a 
civilised  empire,  of  wdiich  he  was  a  native  and  a 
citizen,  to  a  people  with  whose  language  he  had 
been  from  childhood  familiar,  and  whose  social  habits 
made  it  possible  for  him,  in  every  large  town,  to  gain 
by  liis  own  hand  a  livelihood,  without  thereby  hav- 
ing his  whole  time  occupied,  he  was  surely  in  a 
position  quite  different  from  that  of  the  missionary. 
The  latter,  to  begin  with,  apostle  neither  in  strength 
nor  in  gifts,  goes  to  distant  peoples  perhaps  quite 

*  Thus  lately  William  Taylor  (American  Methodist  preacher  in 
California,  then  in  Bombay,  &c.)  in  his  paper,  "  Pauline  Methods 
of  Missionary  Work,"  1879.  Cf.  "der  Christliche  Apologete,"  30th 
June  and  28th  July  1879.  Cf.  also  "Die  Apo.-tolische  und  die 
Moderne  Mission"  in  the  "Allgemeine  Zeitschrift,"  1876,  p.  97, 
sqq.  Cf.  there  also,  1879,  p.  382,  other  extreme  views  of  missionary 
enterprise,  taken  from  the  lives  of  remarkable  evangelists  earning 
their  own  livelihood,  &c. 


68  Protestant  Foreizn  Missions: 


c3 


savage,  perhaps  only  half  civilised,  a  complete 
stranger,  with  every  avenne  of  speech  and  custom 
shut  to  liim,  and  thus,  for  a  considerable  time, 
necessarily  compelled  to  he  without  any  sufficient 
means  of  sustenance, — is  it  to  he  wondered  at,  if, 
in  his  care  for  his  own  daily  bread,  he  shall  forget 
to  be  anxious  about  the  souls  of  others  ?  ]\Iany 
societies  which  at  first  sent  out  missionaries  on  this 
principle,  have,  after  bitter  experiences,  and  taught 
by  the  stern  reality  of  facts,  been  compelled  to  aban- 
don it,  or  to  apply  it  only  in  very  special  cases. 

On  the  other   hand,  different   suggestions   come 
from  Switzerland  and   Holland.     Those  who  brinof 

o 

them  forward  take  their  stand  on  the  principles  of 
a  modern  critical  theology.  They  maintain  that 
missionary  training  and  the  method  of  missionary 
preaching  hitherto  pursued,  with  its  old-fashioned 
biblical  and  evangelical  doctrine  of  salvation,  is 
incapable  of  ever  gaining  over  to  Christianity  the 
more  educated  classes  of  the  heathen  world,  more 
especially  those  of  Eastern  Asia.  JMethods  such  as 
these  might,  they  say,  very  well  have  assigned  to 
them,  as  spheres  of  operation,  the  less  cultivated  of 
heathen  peoples ;  but,  for  tlie  Christianizing  of  the 
highly-educated,  Ave  must  have  a  ncio  missionary 
society,   lased   on  principles  of  free  thovaht*     The 

*  Cf.  as  to  \vLat  follows   Bu88,  "  iJie   Cliristliche   Mission   ibre 
priucipielle  Btreclitigung  uiid  praktiscbe  Durcbfulirung/'  Leiden, 


Their  Present  State.  69 

missionary  agents,  equipped  with  a  many-sided 
Christian,  intellectual  culture,  would  thus  at  once 
turn  to  the  leading  minds  of  the  civilised  heathen 
nations,  to  circles  of  learninir  and  influence,  and  so 
"  from  above  downwards  "  make  themselves  masters 
of  the  whole  spirit  of  the  nation ;  "  if  the  head  were 
once  won,  the  body  of  the  nation  would  submit 
itself  the  more  quickly  to  Christian  culture."  Sug- 
gestions like  these  awaken  somewhat  mixed  feelings. 
Who  will  not  rejoice  that  at  last  the  significance, 
the  justice,  yes,  the  necessity,  of  missionary  work  is 
beginning  to  be  increasingly  recognised  in  circles  of 
"  liberal "  theologians  ?  Who  would  shut  his  ears 
to  a  criticism  so  incisive,  yet  still  so  earnest,  so 
zealous,  and,  therefore,  so  well-meant,  and  not  will- 
ingly submit  existing  systems  to  a  renewed  exami- 
nation ? 

It  is  a  different  matter,  however,  when,  as  biblical 
theologians,  and  as  Christiaus  acquainted  with  the 
history  of  missions,  we  feel  bound  to  characterise 
these  proposals — at  least,  as  far  as  they  apply  to 
the  founding  of  missions — as  in  principle  wrong,  as 
without  any  promise  of  certain  result,  as,  in  fact, 
wholly  impracticable.  We  do  not  discuss  the  funda- 
mental difference  with  regard  to  our  conception  of 

1876,  as  also  the  incisive  criticism  of  Lis  paper  in  the  "  Allgemeine 
Missions-Zeitschrift,"  1876,  p.  371  sqq^.,  4.16  sqq.,  and  the  "  Evang. 
Mis3.  Magazin,"  1876,  p.  258,  sqq. 


70  P^^oiestant  Foreign  Missions: 

the  cardinal  points  of  Christianity.  But,  if  it  be 
proposed  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  tliis  our  old 
faith  with  a  modern  science,  which  would  seek  to 
volatilise  the  facts  of '  redemption,  in  order  that, 
thus  aided,  it  may  be  able  to  cope  with  heathen 
culture,  we  must,  without  in  any  way  undervaluing 
an  intellectual  Christian  training,  take  leave  to 
maintain  that,  to  give  up  the  historical  basis  for 
the  biblical  doctrine  of  salvation,  is  to  lessen  and 
to  weaken  the  ability  of  the  Gospel  to  produce 
moral  and  spiritual  results,  and  to  dry  up  the 
inmost  spring  of  its  regenerating  power.  All  belief 
in  the  omnipotence  of  education  and  culture  is  but 
tlie  superstition  and  the  glaring  error  of  the  present 
day.  What  pleases  the  spirit  of  the  age  ivill  not,  on 
that  account,  overcome  the  world  ;  only  that  will  which 
heals  her  deepest  wounds,  by  imparting  a  new  power 
of  life  and  soul — no  device  of  man,  l)ut  tlie  aift  of  God. 
And  when  such  proposals  are  brought  forward,  I 
may,  from  an  historians  point  of  view,  be  permitted 
to  ask — Is  it  not  a  remarkable  fact,  that  precisely 
since  the  last  of  tliese  sentiments,  the  weiglitiest  of 
tliem  too,  and  the  best  intended,  was  uttered  (that  of 
Ikiss),  tlie  ground  for  the  assertion,  that  our  mis- 
sionary methods  have  been  failures  in  China,  Japan, 
and  India,  is  being  removed  in  a  manner  ever  more 
striking?  In  1878  from  50,000  to  60,000  persons 
in  India  submitted  themselves  to  Chriistian  instruc- 


Their  Present  State,  7 1 

tion,  a  fact  wliicli  should  considerably  modify  repre- 
sentations as  to  the  fruitlessness  of  missions  there. 
These  are,  no  doubt,  mostly  people  of  the  humbler 
classes ;  but  has  not  the  history  of  all  missions, 
ancient  and  modern,  shown  that  the  instinct  of  the 
people,  in  accepting  the  Gospel,  has  ever  anticipated 
the  self-complacent  ignorance  of  the  wise  and  the 
learned  ?  How  many  Churches  of  Christian  people 
were  there  aforetime  in  Greece,  whilst  the  professors 
in  Athens  were  still  offering  for  acceptance  the 
withered  leaves  of  a  heathen  philosophy  and  rhe- 
toric !  It  was  precisely  in  that  university  of  the 
ancients  that  heathenism  managed  to  preserve  itself 
longest.*  And  if,  in  the  early  Church,  in  spite  of 
the  spiritual  power  of  her  ministers,  it  took  centuries 
to  convince  the  more  educated  classes,  in  any  great 
numbers,  of  the  necessity  for  a  new  faith,  surely 
missionary  w^ork  in  Eastern  Asia  has  not  been  car- 
ried on  for  a  length  of  time  sufficient  to  allow  of  any 
question  being  raised  as  to  its  inability  to  win  over 
the  educated  classes !  We  do  not  here  speak  of  the 
attempts  made  in  India  by  the  Jesuits,  who  hoped, 
by  themselves  gaining  admission  into  the  Brahmin 
caste,  to  gain  over  more  quickly  the  rest  of  the  popu- 
lation ;   nor  of  the  sad  compromise  with  heatlienism, 

*  Cf.  Wurm,  "die  Eintheilung  der  Religiouen  iu  ihrer  Bedeu- 
tung  fur  den  Erfolg  der  Mission ; "  "  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeit- 
sclirift,"  1876,  p.  535,  sqq^. 


72  Pr ok  slant  Foreign  Missions: 

a.iid  accommodation  to  its  practices  which  fol- 
lowed.* But  have  we  not,  in  the  German  Church 
itself,  an  example,  which  may  well  serve  as  a  warn- 
ing, of  how,  some  years  ago,  a  missionary  sent  out 
by  the  Unitarians,  instead  of  making  converts,  him- 
self went  over  to  a  heathen  sect,  the  well-known 
Jjrahma  Samadsh  ?  f  How  even  the  whole  Danish- 
Halle  mission  in  India,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  was  crippled  by  the  influence  of 
its  leaders,  who  over-estimated  the  value  of  a  purely 
humanitarian  culture,  and  depreciated  more  and 
more  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  ?  Whether  the 
Dutch  mission,  which  has  gone  over  into  the  hands 
of  "  modern  theologians,"  will  fare  mucli  better,  may 
well  be  doubted. 

No !  the  path  of  missions  to  which  the  future 
belongs,  although  it  be  longer  than  we,  in  our  im- 
patience, could  wish,  is  clearly  laid  down  to  us  in 
Scripture,  and  as  clearly  confirmed  by  history.  "  To 
the  poor  the  Gospel  is  preached;"  "not  many  wise 
after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble 
are  called;"  "we  are  made  the  offscouring  of  all 
peoples ;"  "  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter," — 
this  is  and   will  remain  the  imperial  law  fur  the 

*  Cf.  tlie  excellent  treatise,  "Arbeiter  in  der  Tamil-Mission," 
•'Evangel.  Miss.-Magazin,"  1868,  January  p.  31,  s^^.  ;  February, 
p.  49,  tqq^.  ;  March,  p.  97,  sqq. 

t  "Calwer  Misaionsblatt,"  June  1879,  p.  41. 


Their  Present  State,  "ji 

preacliing  of  the  Cross,  and  more  especially  so  when 
a  Church  is  being  founded.  The  offence  of  that 
cross  of  Christ  will  always  be  but  the  outward 
mantle  of  its  inward  power.  Whoever  will  dispense 
with  the  former,  will  soon  find  himself  without  the 
latter.  Xot,  if  one  may  so  put  it,  to  move  about 
in  evening  dress  among  the  higher  classes,  but  to 
become  "  all  things  to  all  men  " — to  the  simple,  as 
simple,  to  the  learned,  as  wise,  "if  by  any  means  to 
save  some  " — this  was  Paul's  manner  of  conducting 
missions,  and  it  must  ever  be  our  model.  If  those 
so-called  missionary  reformers  would  but  leave  words 
and  take  to  deeds,  and  put  their  plans  to  the  test  of 
practical  use,  this  were  the  easiest  way  of  refuting  us 
— or  else  themselves  !  For  it  seems  to  me  that  every 
such  endeavour  would  but  serve  anew  to  confirm  the 
essential  rightness  of  the  methods  hitherto  pur- 
sued; indeed,  the  very  attempt  itself — the  casting 
about  for  men  and  means — would  show,  wdiat  the 
experience  of  all  time  has  taught,  that  only  in  a 
full  faith  in  the  Gospel  is  to  be  found  that  self- 
denying  love  and  devotion  which,  with  the  help  of 
God,  is  in  some  measure  equal  to  the  difficulties  of 
missionary  work. 

And  this  does  not  mean  that  our  method  of 
training  stands  in  no  need  of  improvement.  In  the 
evangelical  camp  the  voices  are  ever  increasing  in 
number,  which  call  to  us  :  ice  need  not  only  more,  tut, 


74  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  ; 

above  all,  more  capable  and  better  educated  missionaries, 
especially  for  civilised  heathen  peoples,  men  more 
self-denying,  who  will  preach  Christ  more  powerfully 
in  walk  than  in  word  !  What  an  earnest  appeal  was 
that,  made  last  autumn  at  the  Mildmay  Conference 
in  London  !  *  A  Livingstone,  too,  demands  more 
universally  gifted  men,  even  for  Africa,  and  asks,  with 
reference  to  the  popular  delusion,  that  the  Church's 
accents  at  home  must  be  better  educated  than  those 
abroad,  whether  an  army  requires  to  be  better  led 
in  peace  than  in  war  ?  f  Indeed,  we  who  are  to  be 
the  spiritual  conquerors  of  the  world,  should  send, 
not  our  mediocre,  but  our  very  best  men,  those  who, 
not  only  in  faith  and  self-denial,  in  courage  and 
meekness,  but  also  in  linguistic  attainments,  in  capa- 
city for  organisation,  in  many-sided  practical  resource, 
far  surpass  the  clergy  at  home.  Such,  however,  but 
seldom  present  themselves,  and  societies  must  be 
content  with  a  selection  from  those  who  come  before 
them.  On  this  very  ground,  however,  and  because 
the  universities  supply  such  an  uncertain  contin- 
gent, is  a  careful  selection  the  more  indispensable. 


*  By  Dr.  Legge,  Mr.  Turner,  and  others;  cf.  Proceedings  of  the 
Conference,  pp.  178,  259,  &c. 

t  Livingstone's  "  Missionary  Sacrifices  ;"  cf.  Graul  also,  in  the 
paper  above  mentioned,  pp.  134-147,  "The  Church  must  send  her 
ablest,  most  highly-educated,  and  best  men  to  the  heathen,  for  the 
work  in  the  foreign  field  is  more  difficult  than  at  home." 


Their  Present  State,  75 

although  even  this  in  itself  will  never  secure  the 
qualities  necessary. 

And  since  the  subject  is  a  cognate  one,  let  me,  in 
passing,  remind  the  missionary  of  the  duty  incum- 
bent on  him  of  continuing  his  education,  more  espe- 
cially in  respect  of  moral  and  religious  self-training. 
"  If,"  an  African  missionary  once  wrote  to  me,  "  the 
minister  who  does  not  study,  stagnate,  much  more 
is  this  true  of  the  missionary.  If  he  rest  satisfied 
with  what  he  has  attained,  he  will,  in  a  land  where 
the  tendency  of  everything  is  to  drag  liim  doivnwards, 
become  mentally  impoverished  and  lose  the  power 
of  production."  How  many  must  confess,  with  the 
noble  Henry  Martyn,  that  he  has  "  devoted  too 
much  time  to  public  work,  and  too  little  to  private 
communion  with  God"?*  If,  e.g.,  on  Sunday  after- 
noons, surrounded  by  the  wild  din  of  the  hardened 
heathen,  the  missionary  should  feel  himself  lonely 
in  his  hut,  and  a  deep  sorrow  come  over  his  soul, 
oh !   that  then,  by  prayer  and   meditation   on   the 

*  Sargent's  "Life  of  Henry  Martyn,"  1855.  See  also  the  extracts 
from  his  diary  in  Spurgeon's  "Lectures  to  my  Students,"  p.  65,  1875. 
"The  determination  with  which  I  went  to  bed  last  night,  of  devoting 
this  day  to  prayer  and  fasting,  I  was  enabled  to  put  into  execution. 
In  my  first  prayer  for  deliverance  from  worldly  thoughts,  depending 
on  the  power  and  promises  of  God  for  fixing  my  soul  while  I  prayed, 
I  was  helped  to  enjoy  much  abstinence  from  the  world  for  nearly 
an  hour.  .  .  .  Afterwards,  in  prayer  for  my  own  sanctification,  my 
soul  breathed  freely  and  ardently  after  the  holiness  of  God,  and 
this  was  the  best  season  of  the  day." 


76  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

Scriptures,  he  would  learn  to  put  on  more  and  more 
the  armour  of  \vA\t,  and  realise  how  a  man  who  is 
himself  holy  and  is  becoming  ever  more  so,  can,  by 
his  example,  do  more  good  than  in  any  other  way. 
The  Chinese,  to  the  present  day,  speak  oftener  of 
AYiLUAM  Burns  than  of  any  other  man,  because 
he  was,  in  his  own  person,  a  living  proof  of  Chris- 
tianity.* 

But  I  cannot  close  this  survey  of  the  missionary 
ae^encies  of  the  Church  at  home  without  askiiiGj  an 
important  question  :  Why  are  there,  in  German  mis- 
sions,  as  yet  no  medical  missionaries,  and  no  medical 
missionary  societies,  as  among  the  English  and  Ame- 
ricans ?  For  twenty  or  thirty  years  these  have 
proved  themselves  to  the  English,  in  their  mis- 
sionary work,  a  strength  of  incalculable  importance ; 
for  by  them  the  confidence  of  the  natives — precisely 
in  somewhat  cultivated  lieathen  lands,  as  in  those 
of  Islam,  in  India,  China,  Formosa,  Japan — has 
been  most  speedily  and  easily  won.  As  early  as 
the  year  1841  tliere  was  founded  in  Edinburgh  a 
medical  missionary  society  for  tlie  training  of  faith- 
ful evanf)clist-i')]njsicians,  whose  duty  it  shoukl  be  to 
minister  spiritually  and  temj^orally  to  the  poor  at 
home,  especially  in  the  large  towns,  as  well  as  to 
the  heathen   abroad,  according  to   the    oLl  maxim, 

*  Cf.  MiMmay  Conference  on  Foreign  Missionf,  1878,  p.  259, 


Their  Present  State.  77 

''  Preaching  the  Gospel,  and  healing  everywhere " 
(Luke  ix.  6).  After  finishing  their  course,  they  are 
partly  handed  over  to  other  societies,  partly  placed 
in  stations  by  the  Society  itself.  The  Edinburgli 
Society,  e.g.,  supports  medical  missionaries  in  Naza- 
reth, Madras,  and  Japan.  London,  Liverpool,  Glas- 
gow, Birmingham,  Bristol,  Manchester,  and  other 
tow^ns,  and  in  particular  the  practical  Americans, 
have  follow^ed  the  example  set  by  Edinburgh.  Of  the 
several  quarterly  magazines  of  these  associations,  I 
shall  name  only  "  The  Quarterly  Papers  of  tlie  Edin- 
burgh Medical  Missionary  Society,"  and  "The  Medi- 
cal Missions  at  Home  and  Abroad "  of  the  London 
Medical  Missionary  Association.  There  are  several 
Prayer  Unions  of  Christian  Doctors,  e.g.,  the  Medical 
Prayer  Union,  which  has  been  in  existence  since 
1874,  and  now  numbers  as  members  220  physicians 
and  medical  students ;  it  meets  every  week  for 
prayer  and  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  thus  awaken- 
ing and  extending  ever  more  widely  an  interest  in 
mission  work.*  Already,  in  most  of  the  Scottish, 
English,  and  American  societies  a  considerable  pro- 


*  These  notes  are  taken  from  the  magazine,  "Medical  Missions 
at  Home  and  Abroad,"  the  quarterly  magazine  of  the  Medical 
Missionary  Association  (London)  1878,  No.  i,  p.  2,  &ciq. ;  No.  2, 
October  1S78,  p.  17,  sqq.  Here  fourteen  British  missionary  societies 
are  mentioned,  of  which  all  the  Scottish  (particularly  those  of  the 
United  Presbyterian)  and  all  the  larger  English  societies,  employ 
medical  missionaries. 


Protestant  Foreizn  Missions 


<b 


portion  of  the  staff  of  workers  are  Doctors  of  Medi- 
cine, who  are  at  the  same  time  messengers  of  the 
truth,  and  set  before  them,  as  their  chief  aim,  the 
evangelisation  of  the  world.  Between  90  and  100 
agents  are  thus  engaged  in  the  different  stations.* 
Missionary  dispensaries  and  hospitals  are  becoming 
ever  more  numerous,  particularly  in  Asia,  through- 
out Turkey,  India,  China,  Formosa,  and  Japan,  so 
that  a  way  for  the  Gospel  is  being  opened  up  by 
that  Christian  love  which  searches  out  and  aids  the 
needy.  (There  are  now  in  China  about  16  mis- 
sionary hospitals.)  American  Doctors  and  Professors 
in  the  Christian  High  Schools  of  Turkey  instruct 
native  youths,  both  Mohammedan  and  Christian,  in 
the  science  of  medicine,  as  in  Eobert  College,  near 
Constantinople,  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  College 
at  Beyrout  (in  connection  witli  the  American  Pres- 
byterian ]\Iission).  Now  the  demand  is  being  made 
in  England  for  female  medical  missionaries  as  im- 
peratively  necessary  for  the  Hindoo  woman,  parti- 
cularly in  the  large  towns  of  India.-f-  Some  months 
ago,  in  India  itself,  an  institute  for  the  training  of 
medical    missionaries    sprang    into    life    at    Agra,j 

*  See  Mildm.iy  Conference,  p.  77,  address  by  the  Uev.  Dr.  Lowe 
on  Medical  Mi.ssioii8. 

+  Mrs.  Weitljreclit,  "Female  Mi.s.si(jii8  in  India,"  and  "  Tho 
Women  of  India,"  1879. 

X  Medical  MisHions  at  Home  and  Almjad,  April  1S79,  p.  59; 
The  Agra  Medical  Missionary  Training  In&titiition. 


Their  Present  State.  79 

whilst  in  the  other  towns,  e.g.,  in  Bombay,  branch 
societies  can  at  least  support  their  own  medical 
missionaries. 

Still,  in  spite  of  this  great  movement  and  its  evi- 
dent importance  as  a  branch  of  missionary  enterprise, 
there  is  as  yet  on  the  continent  of  Europe  almost 
nothing  of  a  similar  kind.  But  a  short  time  ago, 
the  Barmen  Society  was  obliged  to  refuse  to  send 
out  a  Christian  medical  missionary  to  China,  for 
want  of  funds.* 

We  have,  doubtless,  missionaries  who  possess  a 
smattering  of  medicine,  but  where  have  we  the  phy- 
sician who  knoAvs  anything,  however  little,  of  theo- 
logy— that  is,  who — although  in  its  inmost  nature 
the  Gospel  has  much  in  common  with  the  art  of 
healing — has  in  him  the  making  of  an  evangelist  ? 
Ah !  here  lies  the  cause  of  this  shameful  backward- 
ness. In  the  teaching  of  our  medical  faculties  of 
the  present  day,  no  thought  of  missions  can  struggle 
to  light  without  encountering  on  all  sides  a  derision 
fatal  to  it.  Among  the  young  men,  there  is  preva- 
lent, to  an  almost  incredible  degree,  the  superstition 
of  a  naturalistic  philosophy,  for  which  Christianity 
has  ceased  to  hold  a  position  "  scientifically  tenable." 
Mr,  Darwin,  who  lately  sent  ;^  5  to  the  London  South 

*  Dr.  Goeking,  who  had  laboured  in  China  in  connection  with 
the  Missionary  Society  for  China  at  Berlin  ;  private  subscriptions 
had  to  be  collected,  in  order  to  send  him  out  again. 


8o  Protestant  Foreign  ]\Iissio7is  : 


^> 


American  mission,*  lliey  will  follow  in  everything 
except  in  liis  sympathy  with  missions.  From  licen- 
tiates theses  are  received  similar  to  that  lately  pre- 
sented in  Bonn,  entitled,  "  Belief  in  the  Miraculous 
an  Epidemic  Insanity  ! "    'Wliat  hope  is  there  there  ? 

And  I  say  that  Germany  must  soon  he  compelled 
to  develop  her  missions  on  this  side,  not  only  on 
account  of  the  work  among  the  heathen,  but  for  the 
sake  of  the  missionaries  themselves,  whose  lives — 
humanly  speaking — may  thus  he  prolonged.f  Were 
the  necessity  for  this  but  once  recognised,  the  ways 
and  means  for  putting  it  into  execution  would  soon 
be  found.  Meanwhile,  I  ask  the  friends  of  missions 
seriously  to  reflect  on  the  matter. 

And  now,  that  the  ladies  interested  in  missions 
may  be  able  to  see  themselves  in  this  mirror,  I  would 
remind  them  how  great  assistance  their  sisters  in 
England  and  America  have  rendered  to  missionary 
work,  not  only  by  Dorcas  meetings,  which  exist 
everywhere,  but  by  the  estaljlisliment,  years  ago,  of 
their  own  independent  missionary  soeieties  for  the 
training/  of  heathen  women  and  girls.  I  name  here 
only  the  Society  for  Promoting  Female  Education  in 
the  East  (1834),  with  several  hundred  girls'  schools 
in  India,  Cliina,  and  Africa,  and  a  periodical  of  its 


*  AUgemeine  Missions-Zeitscbrift,  August  1879. 
t  See,  e.g.,  the  remarks  in  the  Medical  Mis.sions,    1S7S,   p.  27, 
hqq.f  ou  the  death  of  the  Basel  uiiBaiouary  Mr.  Weigle  iu  ludia. 


Their  Present  State,  8 1 

own ;  the  Indian  Female  !N"ormal  School  and  Instruc- 
tion Society  (1852)  with  39  European  zenana-lady 
missionaries,  ZZ  native  female  assistants,  94  schools, 
1232  zenanas,  to  whom  they  have  access  for  instruc- 
tion,* an  excellently  conducted  quarterly  magazine 
(the  ''  Indian  Female  Evangelist "),  branch  societies 
throughout  England,  and  an  income  of  ;^  18,594; 
the  Ladies'  Association  (i860)  for  the  Social  and 
Eeligious  Elevation  of  the  Syrian  Women ;  the  Ladies' 
Society  for  the  Education  of  Women  in  India  and 
South  Africa,  in  connection  with  the  Scottish  Free 
Church,  and  the  Society  of  the  English  Presbyte- 
rians for  China  and  India ;  to  which  must  be  added 
similar  ladies'  associations  in  America  with  indepen- 
dent agencies.  Without  failimr  to  make  allowance 
for  the  difference  between  the  English  and  the 
German  character,  may  we  not  ask ; — might  not 
those  societies,  in  which  there  are,  as  far  as  I  know, 
but  one  or  two  German  ladies,  and  side  by  side 
with  which  we  can  place  only  perhaps  the  "  Ladies' 
Society  for  the  Training  of  Females  in  the  East " 
(1842) — which  has,  up  till  now,  sent  out  14  female 
teachers  to  the  East  Indian  mission,+  and  has  an 

*  See  Annual  Report,  April  1879,  p.  7. 

t  See  their  monthly  magazine,  "  Missionsblatt  des  Frauen- 
Vereins  fiir  christlicbe  Bildung  des  weiblichen  Geschlecbts  im 
Morgenlande,"  January  1879,  p.  18,  &qq.  Besides,  in  their  school  at 
Secundra,  the  female  teachers  are  employed  by  Englisb,  American, 
and  German  missionary  societies. 

F 


82  Protestant  Foreio;n  JMissions 

orphan  school  too  at  Secundra — the  "  Berlin  Ladies' 
Society  for  China,"  which  has  established  a  found- 
ling house  in  Hong-Kong, — and  the  work  of  education 
carried  on  in  the  different  towns  of  the  East  by  the 
deaconesses  from  Kaiserswerth, — mii'ht  these  not  be 
assisted  more  than  they  yet  have  been  by  competent 
teachers  from  Germany  ?     Yes,  whole  groups  of  mis- 
sionary agencies  have,  within  recent  times,  started 
into  being.     These  have,  in  many  essential  points, 
supplemented    those    already    existing,   and   should 
have  the  effect  of  stirring  up  Christians  in  Germany 
to  zealous  emulation.     It  is  becoming    ever   more 
varied  and  diverse,  that  line  of  forces  which  is  en- 
gaged in  drawing  in  the  great  Gospel  net.     Even 
the  very  smallest  denomination,  as  soon  as  it  has  a 
name  and  a  habitation,  steps  into  the  arena,  feeling 
that  just  in  tliis  matter  of  foreign  missions  must  it 
prove  the  strength  and  health  of  its  inner  life.     If 
a  Church  can  no  longer  send  reinforcements  to  her 
Lord  and  Master,  as  He  goes  forth  to  conquer  the 
world,  she  will  soon  be  found  to  be  near  extinction 
at  home.     If  Christianity,  as  even  a  ]\Iax  Muller 
confesses,*  be  a  missionary  religion,  in  its  nature 
"converting,  advancing,  aggressive,  encompassing  the 
world,"  a  non-missionary  Churcli  sliows  tliat  she  has 


*    On    Missions  ;    a    lecturo    delivered    iu    WLstuiinster  Abbiy, 
1873- 


Their  Present  State,  %'^ 

departed  from  the  idea  and  the  duty  of  Christianity, 
— that  the  hand  of  death  is  upon  her. 

And,  notwithstanding  this  general  participation  of 
all  the  Churches,  great  and  small,  the  further  the 
work  advances,  the  louder  comes  from  all  sides  tlie 
call  for  more  workers,  clergy  and  laity,  medical  men 
and  teachers  male  and  female.  So  that  it  may  be 
said  in  a  word,  with  respect  to  the  present  position  of 
the  missionary  societies :  at  home  there  is,  on  many 
sides,  a  growing  interest  in  missions,  whilst  on  others 
there  is  a  stubhorn  depreciation  of  them.  In  the 
heathen  world  the  doors  are  wide  ope^i,  a  pressing 
necessity  for  spreading  the  Gospel  exists ;  and  in  many 
respects,  too,  there  is  no  lack  of  agents,  hut  not  means 
enough  to  send  them  out  in  sufficient  numhers.'^  That 
is,  on  the  whole,  an  accurate  description  of  the  pre- 
sent state  of  our  missions.  We  shall  understand  it 
more  clearly  by  a  survey  of — 

III. — The  Work  among  the  Heathen. 

And  here  I  shall  not  notice  in  detail  all  the  fields 
of  mission  labour,  but  call  attention  to  those  only 
which  are  characteristic  of  the  present  state  of 
missions,  facilitate  for  us  an  insight  into  the  working 
of  the  whole  system,  and  enable  us  to  pronounce,  in 


*  Cf.  the  reports  of  the  Rheiuische  Missions-Gesellschaft,  1879, 
No.  vi.,  p.  186. 


84  Protestant  Foreign  JMissions  : 

some  cases,  a  judgment  on  the  riglitness  of  the  ways 
followed  and  the  methods  hitherto  adopted.  As  our 
object  is  to  gain  suggestive  points  of  view,  rather 
than  entire  completeness,  the  division  according  to 
great  groups,  which  seems  to  recommend  itself,  is — 
I.  Work  among  non-civilised  nations,  and — 

11.  Work  amoncj  civilised  nations. 

And  I  shall  then,  keeping  separate,  fur  tlie  sake 
of  clearness,  the  different  quarters  of  the  globe,  con- 
sider, first,  missions  among  the,  as  yet,  uncivilised 
peoples  of  the  South  Seas,  America,  and  Africa,  and, 
second,  those  among  the  civilised  races  of  Asia  Minor, 
India,  China,  and  Japan,  not  dividing  the  countries 
where  tlie  two  classes  exist  together. 

I.  Among  Uncivilised  Peoples. 
In  Australia  missionary  work,  beginning  under 
difficulties  almost  inconceivable,  among  the  few  re- 
maining Aborigines — those  most  degraded  of  the 
human  race — has  been  able  only  to  brighten  some- 
what, with  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  the  darkness 
of  death  which  lias  already  set  in.  The  complete 
extinction  of  these  tribes,  although  it  cannot  be 
prevented,  may  yet  for  a  time  be  delayed  by  mis- 
sionary effort.*     Small  in  extent,  this  work  among 

*  See  Ueberblick  iiber  daa  Missumswerk  der  Briidergemeinde,. 
1879,  p.  40,  sqq.,  and  Grundemann,  "  Orientirende  Uebersicht," 
Allgeineiiie  Mih-sions-Zeitschrift,  1S76,  p.  401,  sriq. 


Their  Present  State.  85 

the  Aborigines  nevertheless  affords  the  most  conclu- 
sive proof,  that  unbelief  triumphed  too  soon  when 
it  asserted  that  there  were  peoples  to  whom  in  their 
degradation,  the  inviting  voice  of  the  Good  Shepherd 
would  call,  but  without  response.  As  proof  of  what 
the  Gospel  can  do  among  the  Papuans,  we  have 
the  Moravian  stations  of  Ebenezer  in  the  Wimmera 
district,  and  Eamahyuk  in  Gippsland,  with  their 
kindly  little  villages  of  125  native  Christian  inhabi- 
tants, their  pretty  churches,  cleanly  houses,  and 
arrowroot  produce,  which  gained  a  prize  at  the 
Vienna  exhibition.  The  Scotch  Presbyterian  mis- 
sion in  Point  Macleay  (south  of  Adelaide)  has  been 
attended  with  similar  success,  not  to  speak  of  the 
Anglican  educational  institutes  for  the  children  of 
natives,  and  the  other  missionary  enterprises  which 
have  gradually  been  transformed  into  colonial  mis- 
sions. It  is  further  a  cheering  circumstance,  that  in 
these  stations  the  children  of  Christian  parents  are 
healthier  and  better  built  than  those  of  the  wander- 
ing heathen. 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  New  Zealand,  where, 
however,  the  mission  is  more  extended,  particularly 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  island.  The  Maoris  (of 
whom  there  are  now  only  30,000)  no  longer  possess 
the  flourishing  mission  they  once  had.  They  have 
been  crushed  by  cruel  wars,  are  gradually  retiring 
before  the  whites,  ten  times   more  numerous  than 


86  Protestant  Foreign  JMissioiis: 

themselves,  and  are  fast  becoming  extinct.  The 
principal  work  here  is  carried  on  by  tlie  Church 
Missionary  Society,  and  the  number  of  the  native 
Christians,  10,315  (in  1874,9439),  under  16  Euro- 
pean missionaries,  27  native  pastors,  and  220 
native  teachers,*  has  recently  been  increased.  The 
future  has  thus  assumed  a  more  hopeful  aspect  for 
the  missionaries.  The  Wcslcyan  mission,  wliich  suf- 
fered mucli  during  the  war,  although  several  thou- 
sand Maoris  are  still  connected  with  it,  works 
chiefly  among  the  colonists,!  as  does  also  the  Fro- 
ixigation  Society.  The  remaining  station,  that  of 
the  North  German  Missionctry  Society  (Bremen)^ 
passed  into  the  hands  of  a  mixed  Christian  com- 
munity. On  the  other  hand,  the  nermannshurg 
mission  (at  present  consisting  of  three  stations)  is 
always  in  existence. 

I  glance  only  at  the  large  islands  north  and  north- 
west of  Australia :  New  Guinea,  which  in  the  north- 
west has  been  appropriated  by  the  Dutch  missionaries, 
while   in    the    south-east    tlie    London    Missionary 


*  Abstract  of  the  Report  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  May 
1879,  p.  19. 

t  The  Annual  Report  of  the  Wesleyjin  Methodi.st  Missionary 
Society  for  1879,  p.  195  (giving  3615  comniuuicaiitR,  and  more  than 
32,ocx3  attending  divine  service),  includes  the  colonists  as  well 
as  the  natives,  persinis  of  tnixed  races  ;  so  also  the  Report  of  the 
Propagation  Society,  p.  "JT,. 


Their  Present  State,  87 

Society  has  carried  on  operations  since  1871,  chiefly 
by  native  evangelists  drawn  from  the  surrounding 
neighbourhood.  But  here,  owing  to  the  degraded 
condition  of  the  inhabitants,  who  are  yet  in  their 
*'  age  of  stone/'  and  to  the  diversities  of  races  and 
speech  (on  the  south  coast,  on  a  strip  of  land  300 
miles  long,  as  many  as  25  !)*  we  see  no  fields  white 
unto  harvest,  but  only  a  soil  hardened  for  the  sow- 
ing, on  which,  however,  some  few  first-fruits  have 
come  to  maturity.  Celebes,  with  the  crown  of  all 
Dutch  missions.  Minahassa,  which  has  now  become 
a  Christian  peninsula,  of  whose  114,000  inhabitants 
more  than  80,000  have  been  converted — these  are 
divided  into  199  communities  with  125  schools.-|- 
Now,  that  they  should  be  able  to  sustain  themselves, 
the  great  error,  that  the  Christians  were  never  suffi- 
ciently trained  to  self-support,  is,  however,  causing 
serious  difficulties.  The  recently-formed  Dutch  mis- 
sions in  Java  and  the  neidibourinQ^  islands,  where  the 
lately  completed  seminary  for  evangelists  in  Depok 
shows  that  Holland  is  at  last  trying  to  make  amends 
for  loner  neodect.  Yet  the  larc^e  Christian  com- 
munities  in  Amboyna,  Ki,  and  the  Aru  Islands,  and 
the  other  fruits  of  missionary  effort  in  Timor  and 


*  According  to  the  missiouary,  Lawes,  at  the  Mildmay  Confer- 
ence, 1878,  p.  282,  and  sqq. 

t  According  to  the  Dutch  missionary,  Saratarg,  Neurdeuburg,  at 
the  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  156,  s^'i. 


S8  Protestant  Forcio-ii  ]\Iissiojis 


<b 


Wetter,  are  still  waiting  in  vain  for  a  missionary.* 
The  Rhenish  mission  in  the  southern  part  of  Borneo, 
in  the  north  of  which  island  the  Propagation  Society 
is  endeavouring  to  establish  itself  more  firmly.  The 
same  society,  too,  is  rapidly  assuming  large  pro- 
portions among  the  Battas  in  Sumaira,  where,  in- 
cluding those  in  ISTias  and  Borneo,  there  are  about 
3000  native  Christians,  with  25  German  mission- 
aries. A  barrier  is  thus  formed  against  the  advance 
of  Islamism,  which  involuntarily  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment is  greatly  aiding  by  the  use  of  the  Malayish 
language  in  the  law  courts,  and  the  employment  of 
Mohammedan  as  inferior  officials. 

A  word  on  the  marvellous  results  of  missionary 
labour  in  the  South  Sea  Islands.  Indeed,  that  we 
find  a  people  here  at  all,  is  due,  in  great  measure, 
to  missions.  These  have  been  the  salvation  of  the 
inhabitants, — a  fact  confirmed  by  the  researches  of 
a  Meinicke,  a  Waitz,  a  Gerland,  an  Obeklaxdek, 
and  even  of  a  Uakwix, — by  their  suppression  of 
cannibalism,  of  human  sacrifices,  of  infanticide,  by 
the  establishment  of  laws  of  right,  by  humanising 
warfare,  by  raising  the  importance  of  marriage,  &c. 
Even  medical  men,  fond  of  travel,  and  desirous  of 
gaining  an  insight  into  nature  in  its  primitive  con- 
ditions, have  in  their  narrations  been  forced  to  be- 

*  According  to  the  uiis-iionary  Dr.  Schreiber,  Mildmay  Couference, 
[..  140. 


Their  Present  State.  89 

come  tlie  apologists  of  missions,  and  to  attest  their 
civilising  influence.* 

Polynesia,  inhabited  by  the  dark-coloured  Malayo- 
Polynesian  race,  is  almost  entirely  Christian.  Mis- 
sionary work,  properly  so  called,  has  here  been  nearly 
completed  by  the  labours  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  the  Wesleyans,  and  the  American  Board. 
The  London  Missionary  Society,  taking  Tahiti  as  its 
basis  of  operations,  carried  on  missionary  enterprise 
in  the  Society  Islands,  the  islands  of  Australasia,  Her- 
vey,  Samoa,  Tokelav,  and  Ellice,  with  such  success, 
that  only  in  the  last  mentioned  group  are  a  few 
heathen  still  to  be  found  remaiuing.-j-  The  "Wes- 
leyans have  flourishing  missions  in  Tonga  and  the 
neighbouring  islands  (126  churches,  8300  communi- 
cants, 122  schools  with  5000  scholars,  and  over 
17,000  persons  attending  divine  worship).  |  The 
American  Board,  after  having,  one  may  say,  changed 
the  Sandivich  Islands  into  a  Protestant  country,  in- 
cluded, some  years  ago,  the  churches  there  in  the 
Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association,  and  with  it  the 
future  prosecution  of  the  work  now  rests.  This 
action  has,  perhaps,  been  premature,  for  the  native 

*  M.  Bucbner,  "  Reise  durch  den  stillen  Ozean,"  1878  ;  see 
Allgemeiiie  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1879,  p.  187,  sq^q. 

+  Cf.  for  this  and  what  follows  the  report  of  the  missionary  Mr. 
Whitmer,  at  the  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  266,  sqq.,  and  the  Annual 
Ileport  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  1879,  p.  53,  sqq. 

X  According  to  Report  for  1 878,  p.  193. 


90  Protestant  Foreign  Missions 

preachers  are  not  numerous  enough,  either  to  supply 
the  wants  of  the  Church  at  home,  or  to  prosecute 
the  work  with  sufficient  vigour  alone  on  the  islands 
of  Gilbert,  Marshall,  Carolina,  and  Marquesas  (where 
the  greater  part  of  the  remaining  heathen  Malayo- 
Polynesian  population  is  to  be  found.)  The  Board 
therefore  again  contemplates  increasing  the  number 
of  its  missionary  agents. 

In  Mihronesia,  on  the  islands  of  Carolina,  Marshall, 
and  Gilbert  above-mentioned,  the  agents  of  the 
Hawaiian  Association  are  actively  at  work  under 
the  direction  of  American  missionaries.  The  want  of 
labourers  at  the  present  time  is  here  felt  with  parti- 
cular keenness,  and,  consequently,  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  appropriated,  in  1870,  some  islands 
in  the  Gilbert  group.  Not  only  have  many  barbarous 
customs  been  abolished,  but  the  personal  activity  of 
the  converted  heathens  has  been  awakened  in  an 
extraordinary  manner.  The  most  promising  of  the 
newly-made  converts  are  sent  forth  to  sow  the 
seed  abroad.*  Indeed,  to  this  essentially  American 
training  to  independence  is  to  a  large  extent  due 
the  success  of  the  South  Sea  mission. 

In  Melanesia,  finally,  with  its  black,  woolly-haired 
population,  we  find  the  AVesleyans,  the  London 
Missionary    Society,    the    Presbyterians,    and    the 

*  Cf.,  ton,  Allgenieine  evaugeliscLe  Lutherisclie  Kirchen-Zoitung 
1879,  suppleineut  i. 


Their  Present  State.  9 1 

Englisli  Episcopal  Churcli  in  the  heat  of  harvest 
work.  And  here  Fiji  shines  out  on  ns  as  one  of 
the  brilliant  gems  of  the  Weslcyan  mission,  where 
all  that  could  be  wished  for  more,  is  a  large  addi- 
tion to  the  staff  of  European  missionaries.  Let 
us  hear  what  the  c^overnor  of  those  islands,  which 
now  belonc^  to  En<::^land,  Sir  A.  GoRDOisr,  was  able 
to  report,  at  tlie  annual  meeting  in  May  1879,  as 
to  the  change  which  has  passed  over  the  inhabi- 
tants, who,  a  short  time  ago,  were  the  most  cruel  of 
cannibals.*  "  Out  of  a  population  of  about  120,000, 
102,000  are  now  regular  worshippers  in  the  churches, 
which  number  800,  all  well  built  and  completed. 
In  every  family  there  is  morning  and  evening  wor- 
ship. Over  42,000  children  are  in  attendance  in  the 
1534  Christian  day-schools  !  The  heathenism  which 
still  exists  in  the  mountain  districts,  surrounded  as 
it  is  on  all  sides  by  a  Christian  population  on  the 
coast,  is  rapidly  dying  out."  The  Loyalty  Islands, 
which  have  been  taken  possession  of  by  the  Lon- 
don Missionary  Society,  have  been  likewise  wholly 
Christianised,  although  partly  by  Eoman  Catholics. 
A  difficult  field  of  labour  is  that  which  tlie  Presby- 
terian missionaries  of  the  Eree  Church  of  Scotland, 
the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Canada,  [N'ew  Zealand, 


*  See  Wesleyan  inissioDary  notices,  June  and  July  1870,  p.  140, 
sq<i ,  and  Report  of  1878,  p.  193. 


92  Protestant  Forcigji  Missions: 

and  Australia  have  in  the  New  Ilehridcs,^'  where 
the  unhealthiness  of  the  climate,  the  variety  of  the 
dialects,  and  the  demoralising  influence  of  ungodly 
traders,  combined  with  the  utter  decjradation  of  the 
inhabitants,  form  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  more 
rapid  advance  of  the  light.  Yet  there  are  here  3000 
natives  receiving  Christian  teaching,  800  communi- 
cants, and  100  native  teachers.  Besides  these,  on 
the  iSTew  Hebrides,  more  especially  on  the  islands  of 
.Banks,  Santa  Cruz,  and  Solomon,  is  the  English  Epis- 
copal Church,  where  the  noble  Bishop  Patteson 
suffered  a  martyr's  death  in  1871.  The  plan  here 
adopted  is  different  from  tliat  of  any  other  society. 
Xative  youths  are  sent  for  months  at  a  time  to 
Xorfolk  Island,  to  receive  instruction,  whence  they 
return  again,  in  order  to  spread  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  at  home.  Durincj  the  favourable  months  of 
the  year,  the  European  teachers  of  these  converts 
visit  the  islands  personally,  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 
taining new  students.f  It  must  require  some  time 
before  tlie  value  of  tliis  migratory  system  can  be 
thorouglily  tested. 

To  sum  up,  the  number  of  commuincants  is — 


*  See  Report  of  the  missionary  Mr.  Inglis  at  the  Mildinay  Con- 
ference, p.  290,  sqrj. 

t  See  Milclmay  Conference,  pp.  273,  294  ;  .also  W.  Baiir,  J.  C. 
Patteson,  1877. 


Their  Present  State.  93 

In  Polynesia,  over  ...  ...  ...  36,000 

In  Mikronesia,  about       ...  ...  ...  1,500 

In  Melanesia,  over  ...  ...  ...  30, 000 


Total,  over  ...  ...  ...         68,000 

the  number  of  native  Christians  belonging  to  Protes- 
tant missions  being  altogether  about  340,000.*  The 
great  need  is,  an  addition  to  the  number  of  %vorkers, 
more  especially  of  a  body  of  thoroughly  educated 
native  clergy,  and  to  this  end  of  an  English  institu- 
tion for  the  higher  training  of  Polynesian  students.f 
Missions  among  the  uncivilised  peoples  of  Ame- 
rica, although  they  cannot  be  reviewed  within  a  few 
minutes,  must  nevertheless  not  be  left  unnoticed. 
We  hurry  past  the  quiet,  patient  labours  of  the  Mora- 
vians in  Greenland  and  Lahrador,  which  should  for 
the  most  part  be  no  longer  described  as  mission,  but 
rather  as  the  work  of  the  ministry  among  a  Christian 
community,  seeking  here  and  there  only  to  win 
over  the  few  remaining  heathen  where  they  can  be 
reached  to  the  fold  of  Christ,  and  extending,  in 
recent  times  more  especially,  their  operations  north 
to  the  heathen,  and  southwards  as  far  as  the  English 
settlers  ;  j — past,  too,  the  Danish  mission  in  Green- 
land, which,   on   its   eight   stations,  employs   eight 

*  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  268,  sqq. 

t  See  the  above-mentioned  Report  of  Mr.  Whitmer,  p.  274. 

X  Missionsblatt  der  Biiidergemeinde,  July  1 879  ;  General  Survey, 
p.  8,  sqq.  In  Greenland,  six  stations,  with  1526;  in  Labrador,  six 
stations,  with  1232  converts. 


94  Protestant  Foreign  Missions 

or  ten  Danish  missionaries,  as  also  one  native 
preacher ; — past  the  mission  of  the  Canadian  Con- 
ference of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists,  and  of  the 
Propagation  Society  among  the  Indians  of  Canada,* 
and  the  people  of  Hudson's  Bay,  as  well  as  among 
the  colonial  population ; — past  the  important  work 
of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  in  the  dio- 
ceses of  Paipertsland,  Saskatshewan,  Eed  Pdver,  &c., 
where,  in  spite  of  the  strong  opposing  influence  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  desolation  caused  by 
the  brandy  supplied  to  the  Indians  by  white  traders, 
the  number  of  native  Christians  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing, amounting,  in  the  twenty-four  stations  of  this 
Society,  to  as  many  as  10,472,  w^ith  twelve  native 
preachers,  and  twenty- one  schools.f  AYe  cast  only 
a  glance  at  Columbia,  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific. 
Here,  in  connection  with  the  same  Society,  William 
Duncan,  the  schoolmaster,  a  practical  missionary 
genius,  of  w^hom  we  have  but  few  nowadays,  has 
converted  a  body  of  most  degraded  Indians,  part 
of  them  cannibals,  and  in  his  Metlakahtla  has 
created,  morally,  rehgiously,  socially,  politically,  and 
commercially,  a  wonderfully  flourishing  Christian 
conmumity.      He    has    astonished    the    poor   blind 


*  Both  societies,  in  their  Annual  Reports,  do  not  distinctly 
sejiarate  the  work  among  the  white  colonists  and  the  Indians. 

t  See  Abstract  of  the  Report  of  the  Church  Midsionary  Society, 
1879,  p.  20,  and  Mildmay  Confereuce,  p.  287. 


Their  Present  State.  95 

lieatlien  afar  off,  and  made  them  long  for  the  bless- 
ings of  the  Gospel ;  he  has  given  to  the  world,  indeed, 
a  splendid  proof  of  how,  by  founding  Christian 
colonies,  missions  may  become  the  means  of  pre- 
serving the  national  life  of  Indian  tribes,  who  must 
otherwise  have  become  extinct.  This  man,  in  barely 
six  months,  succeeded  in  so  mastering  the  language, 
as  to  be  able  to  preach  his  first  sermon,  which  he 
was  obliged  to  repeat  nine  times  the  same  evening, 
since  the  village  where  he  dwells  was  inhabited  by 
nine  different  tribes,  who  (a  significant  fact)  did  not 
venture  to  assemble  in  a  general  meeting.  He  now 
stands  at  the  head  of  a  community  of  some  1000 
persons,  which  has  the  largest  church  to  be  found 
between  there  and  San  Francisco,  besides  parsonage, 
schoolhouse,  stores,  workshops,  &c.,  and  has  even 
founded  a  colony  of  its  own.*  The  former  Governor- 
General  of  Canada,  Lord  Duffepjn,  on  his  journey 
of  inspection  in  1876,  could  hardly  find  words  to 
express  his  astonishment  at  what  he  here  saw ! 
Complete  isolation  from  heathen  surroundings,  and 
from  the  influence  of  unscrupulous  Europeans,  incul- 
cation of  habits  of  steady  work  and  honest  dealing, 
the  establishment  of  a  strict  civil  discipline  and 
order,  while  preserving  essentially   Indian  institu- 

*  See  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1878,  p.  197,  555.,  and  the 
Report  of  Admiral  Prevost  at  the  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  280, 
zqc^.;  also  Warueck,  "  Modernen  Mission  und  Cultur,"  p.  82. 


96  Protestant  Foreign  Missions  ; 

tions  (as  a  ''council"  with  twelve  "heads"), — these, 
with  the  inwardly  transforming  power  of  a  pure  evan- 
gelical preaching,  are  the  secrets  of  such  results. 

Here  the  Church  Missionary  Society  can  show  four 
stations, with  already  1 1 50  native  Christians.  Alaslika 
too,  which  has  passed  out  of  Russian  into  American 
hands,  the  north-western  strip  of  North  America, 
formerly,  along  with  Greenland,  the  northernmost 
limit  of  Protestant  missionary  activity,  has  recently 
been  entered  upon  by  American  agents.* 

A  few  words  only  on  —  what  may  be  called 
the  "  child  of  sorrow "  of  Protestant  missions — 
tlie  remaining  Indian  tribes  of  tlie  United  States. 
These  number  now  only  from  250,000  to  260,000 
souls  (1876,  266,000,  Alashka  not  included^).  Work 
among  them  is  still  carried  on  by  (excluding  the 
Catholics)  the  Moravians  (in  three  stations,  in  addi- 
tion to  one  in  Canada,  with  altogether  319  native 
Christians),  by  the  American   Board,  the    Presby- 


*  Reports  of  the  Rheinish  Missionary  Society,  1S79,  No.  vi., 
p.  186. 

t  Cf.  the  address  of  the  Hon.  F.  R.  Brunot,  at  the  Meeting,'  of 
Alliance,  New  York  ;  Proceedings,  &c.,  p.  630,  .^qq.  The  "  Mis- 
sionary Herald,"  March  1878,  p.  73,  gives  their  number  as  278.000. 
See  also  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1874,  p.  1 16,  sqq.  War- 
neck,  "Modernen  Mission  und  Cultur,"pp.  78-81, and  the  testimonies 
there  referred  to  of  Waitz,  Gerland,  and  others.  The  newest 
calculation  to  be  found  in  "  Ciiristianity  in  the  United  States," 
by  Schaff,  p.  61.  Mr.  Brunot,  in  1873,  estimated  the  Indians  as 
numbering  350,000;  Schaff,  in  1879,  only  as  25^,000. 


Their  Present  State.  97 

terians  of  tlie  ISTortli  and  South,  tlie  Baptists  and 
Southern  BajDtists,  the  Episcopal  Methodists,  North 
and  South,  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
and  more  especially,  in  recent  times,  by  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  Church.  It  is  well  known  how 
incalculably  these  tribes  have  suffered  at  the  hands 
of  the  whites,  who,  instead  of  bringing  to  them  the 
Gospel,  have  oftener  approached  them  with  powder 
and  shot,  or  hurried  them  to  an  early  grave  by  the 
influence  of  brandy.  However,  since  the  inaugura- 
tion of  President  Gkaxt's  "  peace  policy,"  which 
places  all  the  Indian  agencies  in  the  hands  of  Chris- 
tian denominations,  better  days  seem  to  be  dawning. 
According  to  the  competent  judgment  of  Mr.  Brunot, 
the  President  of  the  United  States  Board  of  Indian 
Commissioners,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Alliance  in 
New  York,  the  total  number  of  tribes  consists  of 
about  1 30  remnants,  distributed  over  90  allotted  terri- 
tories ("reservations"),  and  speaking  about  50  diffe- 
rent languages.  Of  these,  27,000  Indians  are  in  full 
Church  membership,  and  are  divided  among  tlie  171 
communities  of  different  denominations  (including 
Catholics),  with  219  little  churches.  Nearly  200,oco 
of  this  Indian  population  are  civilised,  either  wholly 
or  in  part,  and  the  remainder  only  are  still  savages, 
living  by  the  chase.  There  are  366  school?,  attended 
by  about  1 2,222  Indian  children  (including  Catholics). 
It  is  too  late,  then,  to  ask  .at  this  time  of  day  if 


gS  Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

these  peoples  are  capable  of  being  civilised.  The 
fact  has  been  proved  and  admits  of  no  doubt.  The 
Cherokees,  the  Choctaws,  the  Creeks,  the  Chicka- 
saws,  the  Seminols,  and  others,  among  v^^hom  the 
American  Board,  the  Presbyterians,  and  tlie  Baptists 
of  the  South  labour,  with  their  churches,  their  schools, 
academies,  and  newspapers, — with  their  legislative 
assemblies  and  codified  laws, — indeed,  in  respect 
of  their  whole  condition,  intellectually  and  morally, 
compare  favourably  with  their  white  neighbours  in 
Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  Texas.  There  are  now  of 
Creeks  about  2000  in  full  church  membership,  and 
of  Choctaws  and  Chickasaw^s  more  than  2500.  The 
missions  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Cliurch,  of  tlie 
American  Board,  and  the  Presbyterians,  among  the 
Dacotas  and  Sioux,  of  tlie  last-named  body  among 
the  Indians  in  Xez  Perces,*  and  of  the  Methodists 
among  the  Yakamas,  are  all  on  the  increase,  and  con- 
firm the  experience  so  often  made  by  colonial  govern- 
ments after  mucli  unnecessary  expense  and  many  a 
serious  blunder,  tliat  one,  missionary  can  dispense  with 
many  soldiers  !  And  if,  in  some  places,  progress  be 
but  slow^,  let  it  never  be  forgotten  how  diflicult  it 
must  be  for  the  Indians  to  accept  tlie  Gospel  at  the 
hand  of  their  former  persecutors  and  oppressoi-s. 

*  See  Report  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbj'- 
torian  Church,  New  York,  1879,  p.  7,  s^qq.  ;  Report  of  the  Americau 
Board,  1 878,  p.  99,  sqq.  ;  Schaff,  p.  61. 


Their  Preseiit  State.  99 

The  widely-prevalent  opinion,  that  the  Indians 
must  become  extinct,  is  now  refuted  by  the  indisput- 
able fact,  that  those  tribes  of  them  which  have  been 
Christianised  are  increasing  in  number,*  while  their 
outward  condition  is  being  rapidly  bettered.  The 
Gospel,  preached  by  226  American  missionaries  (in- 
cluding Catholics),  has  proved  itself  to  the  Indians 
the  savour  of  life  unto  life;  whilst,  without  its  morally 
regenerating  power,  all  usages  and  exigencies  of 
civilisation  serve  but  the  more  quickly  to  destroy 
them,  as  they  do  all  non-civilised  peoples.  Upwards 
of  41,000  Indians  can  now  read,  and  this  number  is 
increased  by  1200  every  year. 

The  following  facts,  which  are  hardly  signs  of  an 
impending  speedy  extinction,  may  be  given.  The 
number  of  decent  dwelling-houses  among  the  Indians 
was — 

1868    7,476 

1877     22,199 

Acres  of  land  under  cultivation  : — 

1868 54,207 

^^n 292,550 

Amount  of  corn  raised  : — 

1868 467,363  bushels 

1877 4,656,952t    „ 

*  See  Missionary  Herald  (Boston)  1S7S,  November,  p.  382. 

t  See  the  interesting  statistics  in  Missionary  Herald,  March 
1878,  p.  73,  and  September  1877,  p.  292.  The  latter  (see,  too, 
Warneck,  as  above  mentioned,  p.  79)  may  be  somewhat  altered 
by  the  later  tables  of  1878. 


lOO         Protestant  Fordo-n  iVissiojis  : 


^ 


Their  cattle  have  increased  in  a  corresponding 
proportion. 

The  solution  of  the  Indian  question  does  not  now 
lie  with  unscrupulous  political  agents  and  free- 
booters, but  with  the  Christian  Church,  and  already 
a  new  and  better  era  has  been  inaugurated.  There 
is,  then,  all  the  greater  necessity,  just  at  this  very 
time,  that  additional  forces  should  he  sent  to  carry  on 
mission  work  among  the  Indians.  Satisfaction  must 
be  made  for  much  injustice  done,  and  confidence 
and  trust  once  lost,  won  back  again.  Is  the  present 
number  of  Indian  missionaries  sufficient  ?  Is  all 
haste  not  imperative  in  bringing  Christianity  to 
many  of  the  rapidly  disappearing  remnants  of  tribes  ? 
Can  the  policy  hitherto  pursued,  of  concentrating 
the  lied  Skins,  more  especially  on  Indian  territory 
and  in  a  few  large  "reservations,"  be  continued 
without  injustice  to  the  rights  of  eacli  race  ?  Is 
this  heaping  together  of  heathen  disorder  not  pre- 
judicial to  true  progress  ?  Such  are  some  of  the 
questions  which  are  engaging  the  serious  attention^ 
of  the  friends  of  missions  in  America.* 

I  pass  over  the  great  work  of  evangelisation  and 
Christian  education  among  the  Nccjrocs  in  the  United 
States,  of  which  the  Jubilee  singers  of  Tisk  University, 
in  Xashville  (Tennessee),  not  long  ago  gave  a  striking 


*  See  Missionary  HeraM,  1878,  p.  382. 


Thei}^  Present  State.  loi 

proof  before  nearly  the  half  of  Europe.  It  may  be 
remarked  only,  that,  since  the  war,  more  than  looo 
places  of  worship  have  been  built  for  them  in  the 
South,  and  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  negroes 
have  attached  themselves  to  the  Churches',  more 
especially  to  those  of  the  Methodists  and  Baptists.* 
The  American  Missionary  Association  has  erected 
26  institutions  (with  about  6000  students),  for  tlie 
purpose  of  training  freed  slaves  to  be  teachers  and 
missionaries ;  +  209  young  men  thus  educated  are 
now  in  active  work. 

We  shall  cast  but  a  passing  glance  at  the  present 
condition  of  missionary  work  in  the  West  Indies  and 
Central  America.  Tlie  Moravian  mission  on  the 
Mosquito  coast,  partly  among  the  native  Indians  and 
partly  among  the  negroes  and  mulattoes,  in  spite  of 
the  serious  opposition  of  the  Jesuits  in  Nicaragua, 
holds  its  own,  and  continues  to  progress  in  useful- 
ness. Now  there  are  seven  stations,  with  1105  con- 
verts.]: The  mission  of  the  Propagation  Society 
among  the  Indians  on  the  Usscquiho  and  Berhice, 
in  British  Guiana,  has,  within  the   last  few  years, 


*  As  many  as  200,000  Lave  joiued  the  Episcopal  Metbodiots  ;  see 
Apologete,  July  14,  1879. 

t  According  to  the  Report  of  Dr.  White  at  the  Mildmay  Con- 
ference, p.  54,  sqq.  The  Freed  men's  Missionary  Aid  Society,  in 
London,  co-opeiates  with  this  Association. 

t  Missionsblatt  derBrudergemeinde,July  1879;  Ueberblick,p.'27. 


102         Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

l)een  rapidly  extended,*  and  now  upwards  of  3000 
— or  the  half  of  the  Indian  population  there — have 
been  gathered  as  members  into  Christian  Churches. 
The  Moravian  mission,  too,  among  the  negroes  in 
Surinam  (Dutch  Guiana),  whose  largest  congregation 
is  in  Paramaribo,  100  years  old  now^,  with  6592  souls, 
is  extending  on  all  sides,  though  slowly,  its  former 
boundaries.  It  has  advanced  southwards,  up  the 
stream,  into  the  unhealthy  Biishland,  and  as  far  as 
the  negroes  of  Anka  and  Saramacca,  many  of  whom, 
of  their  ow^n  free  will,  beg  for  Christian  instruction. 
Again,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  the  same  society 
has  been  called  to  labour  among  the  Chinese  and  Indian 
coolies,  who  in  the  plantations  have  taken  the  place 
of  the  negroes,  the  latter  having  been  widely  scattered 
since  the  abolition  (in  1872)  of  state  supervision. 
And  finally,  just  recently,  it  has  advanced  to  the 
AVest,  into  British  territory,  where  in  Demerara,  it 
has  been  able  to  found  t\vo  new  stations ;  so  that,  in 
sj^ite  of  the  considerable  loss  sustained  by  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  slaves,  the  total  number  of  Christians 
in  connection  with  the  Moravians,  21,000  (formerly 
it  was  24,000),  is  not  likely  to  suiler  any  further 
dim  i nut  ion. -f 

In   the    Wed    Indies,  its    oldest   field    of   laljour. 


*  Four  hundred  and  eighty-six  baptized  in  1 877,  see  Report  for 
[878,  p.  lOI. 
t  Cf.  Ueberblickof  1879  with  the  annual  reports  of  iS70and  s'lq. 


Their  Present  State.  103 

the  Moravian  mission  presents  a  double  aspect. 
In  Danish  West  India  (St.  Thomas,  St.  Jan,  and 
St.  Croix)  the  number  of  negro  Christians  has,  from 
the  pressure  of  outward  circumstances,  somewhat 
decreased.  In  Encrlish  West  India,  on  the  other 
hand,  where  in  Jamaica,  Fairfield,  there  is  now  a 
theological  seminary,  it  is  on  the  increase.  They 
both  together  number  over  36,000  Christians,  who, 
tliouoh  formin£f  a  Christian  Charch,  rather  than  a 
mission  station,  nevertheless,  as  regards  self-support, 
do  not  as  yet  fulfil  even  moderate  expectations. 
The  Moravians  are  now  endeavouring  to  make  this 
important  mission  field  independent,  as  regards  native 
preachers,  teachers,  and  support  of  ordinances,  and 
they  hope,  in  about  ten  years,  to  attain  this  end. 
The  same  endeavour  is  manifest  in  the  extensive 
English  missionary  enterprises  in  the  West  Indies, 
conducted  by  the  Wesleyans,  Baptists,  London  Mis- 
sionary Society,  Scottish  United  Presbyterians,  the 
Propagation  Society,  and  several  American  associa- 
tions, which  we  cannot  here  specify.  Of  these,  and 
indeed  of  all  the  Protestant  missions  in  the  AYest 
Indies,  that  of  the  Wesleyans  can  show  the  greatest 
number  of  members.  The  last  report  states  that 
in  Antigua,  St.  Vincent,  Jamaica,  Honduras,  Baha- 
mas and  the  Hayti  district,  the  number  of  persons 
in  full  church  communion  is  over  41,000,  and   of 


1 04         Pi'otcstant  Foreign  Missions  : 

cliurchgoers  126,000.*  This  does  not  include  the 
Guiana  district,  where  there  are  4200  and  20,000 
respectively.  And  the  total  of  adherents  to  the  Eng- 
lish Episcopal  Church,  white  and  coloured  together, 
specially  in  Jamaica  and  Antigua,  does  not  seem 
to  be  much  behind  that  of  the  Wesleyans.  Every- 
where there  is  a  steady  numerical  increase.  The 
social  condition,  however,  of  the  often  very  poor 
negroes  leaves  much  to  be  desired,  though  opinions 
differ  as  to  wliether  or  not  tliis  is  due  to  the  metliod 
in  which  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  was  carried 
out.f  Still  a  goodly  number  of  churches  are  self- 
sustaining,  especially  among  the  Baptists,  w^ho  only 
occasionally  receive  a  pastor  from  England.  Others 
are  gradually  approaching  this  desired  end.J  It  is 
not  seldom  that  the  academies  contain  negroes  in 
the  highest  classes,  as  well  as  whites.  The  lately 
disestablished  Episcopal  Church  is  on  the  fair  way 
for   becoming   self-supporting,  and   many  of   those 

*  Itcport  f(jr  1S79,  p.  168,  gqq.  On  the  other  hand,  Mildmay 
Park  Conference,  p.  36,  the  number  of  members  is  given  at  72,000, 
probably  inchiding  Europeans,  the  same  number  of  Anglican  Epis- 
c  )p.ilians,  and  53,000  Baptists.  The  members  of  the  United  Presby- 
terians amount  106691  communicants,  according  to  their  Missionary 
llecord,  June  1879,  p.  529. 

+  See  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1S76,  p.  554;  as  also 
]'uxton,  "Slavery  and  Freedom  in  the  British  West  Indies,"  p.  92  ; 
and  Underbill  at  the  Mildmay  Conference,  }».  31,  sr/q. 

X  Seethe  Report  of  the  Jlev.  ^Ir.  Murray,  "  All^'cmeine  Mis- 
sions-Zeitschrift," 1874,  p.  116. 


Their  Present  State.  105 

communities  which  were  formerly  mission  stations 
are  now  parishes  under  an  Anglican  bishop. 

Jamaica  is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  Protestant 
land,  strewn  with  Christian  churches  and  missionary 
stations,  although  the  greater  part  of  her  population 
is  connected  with  no  Church  at  all  In  the  whole  of 
the  British  West  Indies,  with  upwards  of  one  million 
inhabitants,  about  248,000  are  regular  churchgoers, 
and  about  85,000  are  communicants  in  the  different 
cliurches ;  78,600  children  receive  instruction  in 
1 123  day-schools,  and  of  this  number  about  45,000 
belong  to  Jamaica.* 

The  Protestant  mission  on  the  southern  promon- 
tory of  South  America,  begun  by  the  London  South 
Ainerican  Missionary  Society,  carries  on  operations 
not  only  in  the  Falkland  Islands,  where  youths  from 
Tierra  del  Fuego  receive  instruction,  but  has  now 
founded  stations  in  Tierra  del  Fuego  itself,  and  in 
Patagonia  has  baptized  some  dozens  of  converts,  and 
besun  to  arouse  the  natives,  those  most  degraded  of 
Indians,  out  of  their  deadness.f     Indeed,  by  com- 


*  According  to  accounts  given  by  Uuderliill,  Mildmay  Con- 
ference, pp.  35-37. 

t  See  "Missionary  News,"  June  1871,  March  1S77,  pp.  27,  39,  89, 
where  the  missionary,  Mr.  Wbaits,  gives  some  interesting  testimonies 
of  Pesherehs,  who  confessed  "  that  now  they  understood  why,  long 
ago,  Allen  Gardiner  and  others  took  so  much  trouble  with  them, 
and  how  they  now  regretted  their  indifference  and  ingratitude 
towards  those  first  evangelists,"  &c. 


io6         Protestant  Fo)^eign  Missions  : 

mencing  a  mission  in  the  Amazon  River  territory, 
this  Society  has  begun  to  extend  its  labours  to  the 
Indians  in  Brazil  (1874). 

In  the  nortli  and  in  the  south  ^ye  have  the  Indians; 
in  the  centre — i.e.,  in  tlie  West  Indies  and  Guiana — 
for  the  most  part  the  Negroes.  Among  the  former 
success  has  been,  in  part,  meagre  as  yet,  but  in  part 
also,  more  especially  in  recent  times,  full  of  the  pro- 
mise of  a  rich  harvest.  Among  the  latter  progress 
lias  been  very  considerable.  Tens — in  the  United 
States,  hundreds — of  thousands  of  negroes  are  now 
ministered  to  by  coloured  preachers.  Such  is  the 
appearance  which  the  American  mission  field  among 
non-civilised  peoples  presents. 

It  is  somewhat  different  with  the  home  of  the 
negroes — Africa.  This  immense  heterogeneous  con- 
tinent, groaning  under  the  curse  of  the  slave  trade,  the 
darkness  of  superstition,  the  bloody  sceptre  of  an  iron 
despotism,  and,  in  half,  under  the  yoke  of  Islam — be- 
fore whose  estuaries  there  stretch  beneath  the  heavy 
surf  L»ng  expanses  of  sandbank — whose  interior  is 
encircled  by  the  broad,  rairdess  zone  of  Sahara,  while 
the  entrance  to  it  all  is  barred  by  the  deadly  fevers  of 
a  tropical  climate — this  land  has  been  laid  hold  of 
by  Protestant  missions,  as  yet  only  on  its  sea-coast, 
lint  now,  foremost  among  all  others,  it  is  emerging 
from  the  darkness  by  which,  for  thousands  of  years, 
it  was  surrounded.    The  interior,  traversed  by  heroic 


Their  Present  State,  107 

missionaries  and  other  pioneers,  has  been  opened  up, 
and,  on  the  new-found  paths,  Protestant  missions 
from  soutli  and  east,  and  still  more  recently  from 
the  west,  are  seeking  to  penetrate  to  its  centre.  For- 
vxirds,  from  ivithout  to  ivitJiin  I  has  suddenly  become 
the  watchword,  which  in  this  land  summons  the 
missionaries  to  increased  efforts.  And  we  are  w^ar- 
ranted  in  hoping,  tliat,  with  the  recent  foundation  of 
Scoto-English  settlements  on  the  interior  lakes  of 
the  east,  a  new  page  will  be  begun  for  tlie  future 
missionary  and  ecclesiastical  history  of  Africa. 

The  three  Protestant  centres  of  missionary  labour  in 
Africa — a  large  portion  of  the  west  coast,  the  south- 
ernmost cape,  and  one  or  two  points  in  the  east — I 
shall  consider  all  together,  in  order  that  I  may  sub- 
join a  few  general  remarks  on  missionary  enterprise 
among  non-civilised  peoples. 

There  are  several  smaller  missions  in  West  Africa, 
as:  the  Paris  Missionary  Society  in  Senegambia ;  that 
of  the  Wesley ans  on  the  Gambia  (7  stations,  with 
645  full  communicants) ;  *  that  on  the  Pongas, 
supported  by  Christian  negroes  of  the  West  Indies, 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  Bishop  of  Sierra 
Leone ;  that  of  the  Scottish  United  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Old  Calabar  (5  stations,  with   181    com- 


Report  for  1S79,  p.  151. 


io8         P]'otcstant  ForeiiTJi  Missions: 


<i) 


municants)  ;*  that  of  the  English  Baptists  on  tlie 
Cameroons  (4  stations,  with  about  150  converts); 
those  in  Corisco  and  Gaboon,  of  the  American  Boanl, 
and  now  of  tlie  American  Presbyterian  Church. -f 
]jut,  passing  tliese  over,  we  come  to  the  larger,  better 
equipped,  and  more  fruitful  mission  field  of  Sierra 
Lconc,  one  of  the  few  in  West  Africa  where  paro- 
chial has  long  ago  taken  the  place  of  missionary 
work,  the  Church  Missionary  Society  having  re- 
moved the  most  of  the  churches  there  from  her 
Connection,  and  handed  them  over  as  parishes  to 
the  care  of  the  bishop.  J  Sierra  Leone  proper,  the 
English  peninsula,  is  at  the  present  day  a  Protestant 
land.  The  bulk  of  the  Christians  there  are  divided 
between  the  Anglican  Church  and  the  Wesleyan 
mission.  The  latter  now  possesses  32  churches,  with 
5675  full  church  members,  with  over  16,000  wlio 
attend  service,  and  instructs  in  22  day-schools  2600 
children. §  A  by  no  means  inconsiderable  number 
of  Christians  belong  to  the  Lady  Huntingdon  Con- 
nection and  the  United  Methodist  Free  Church, 
wliile  the  Eourah  ]>ay  College  for  cohnircd  preachers 


*  Missionary  Record  of  the  United  Presbj'terian  Church,  June 
1879,  P-  527. 

t  The  American  Preshyterian-g  have  here  about  300  niomher.s 
and  474  BchularH  in  f(jnr  stations  ;  see  lie})ort,  1879,  p.  30,  577. 

X  There  are  now  fully  three  Ktatiou.s,  with  950  Christians  ;  see 
Ab.stract  of  Report,  1 879,  p.  4. 

§  Report,  1S79,  p.  151. 


Their  Present  State.  109 

is  increasing  in  numbers.  In  tlie  repuLlic  of 
Lilcria,  once  hailed  with  too  great  hopes,  we  find 
several  American  societies  at  work;  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  (43  churches,  with  2200  members) ;  *  the 
Protestant  Episcopal,  the  Presbyterian. -|-  the  Ame- 
rican Missionary  Association,  and,  latest  of  all,  the 
agents  from  the  Eisk  University  (Tennessee).  How 
far  these  negroes  re-imported  from  America  will 
show  ability  of  themselves  to  extend  Christian 
culture,  remains  for  time  to  determine,  j 

On  the  Gold  and  Slave  Coasts  the  Eno-lish  Wes- 

o 

leyans,  tlie  Basel  and  the  Xorth  German  Missionary 
Societies,  labour  beside  each  other.  The  attempts 
of  the  first-named  of  these  societies  to  advance  as 
far  as  Ashanti,  seem  for  the  time  being  to  have 
been  abandoned.  On  the  Gold  Coast,  however,  the 
number  of  its  stations  (14)  and  members  is  increas- 
ing (now  6630,  with  37,000  adherents).  §  The  Basel 
Society,  wliich.  last  December  celebrated  its  jubilee 
of  hard  work  on  the  Gold  Coast,  has  now  extended 
its  sphere  of  activity  to  the  lands  of  Accara,  Adangme, 

*  Report  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  for  1879,  p.  4. 

t  With  eight  stations  and  254  communicants ;  see  Report  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  1879,  p. 
28,  sqq. 

X  !^ee  Grundemann,  "  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,"  1S74, 
p.  16. 

§  The  Report  for  1878  gives  8  station?,  that  of  1S79,  14  (p.  152), 
with  87  schools  and  2647  scholars. 


I  lo         Protestant  Foveio-ji  Missions  : 


^> 


Akuapem,  and  Akem,  and  has  recently  founded  a 
station  composed  of  its  first-fruits  in  Aslianti.  Alto- 
gether, it  has  9  principal  and  13  outlying  stations, 
4000  negroes  forming  the  Christian  communities, 
^vith  41  primary  and  secondary  schools,  and  11 30 
scholars.*  The  Sciiptures  have  been  translated  into 
the  Ga  and  Otshi  languages,  all  manner  of  handi- 
ciafts  introduced,  many  bright-looking  Christian 
villages  estabhshed,  so  that  in  some  places  tlie 
primeval  marshes,  with  their  pestilential  vapours, 
are  beginning  to  disappear.  Smaller  by  far,  but 
richer  in  martyrs  to  the  storms  of  war  and  the 
ravages  of  pestilence,  has  been  the  labour  of  the 
North  German  Missionary  Society  on  the  Slave 
Coast,  with  four  stations  and  several  hundred 
converts. 

By  no  means  unimportant,  though  progressing 
slowly,  under  all  manner  of  vicissitudes  (cf.  the 
missions  in  Abeokuta)  is  the  mission  in  the  Yoruha- 
lands,  where,  beside  the  South  American  Baptists,  we 
again  find  the  Church  Missionary  Society  (with  now 
II  stations,  5994  native  Christians,  and  1567  scho- 
lars),f  and  the  Wesleyans  (now  in  the  districts  of 
Yoruba  and  Popo,  six  stations,  with  1082  members 
and  3500  adherents). J     Through  tlie  latter  Brotes- 


*  Evaiigelischer  Heidenbote,  August  1879,  p.  61. 
t  Abstract  of  the  I{e{ioit,   1 879,  p.  5. 
X  Report,  1879.  p.  152. 


Their  Present  State.  1 1 1 

tant  missions  come  into  contact  with  the  bloody 
Dahomey.  It  is  encouraging,  too,  that  the  impor- 
tant missionary  work  in  Abeokuta  is  again  gradually 
reviving.  On  the  Niger  we  have  the  interesting 
spectacle  of  negro  preachers  and  teachers  under  the 
coloured  Bishop  Crowther,  in  connection  witli  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  carrying  on  the  work 
which,  within  the  last  few  years,  was  consecrated  by 
the  blood  of  martyrs.*  These  are  succeeding  in  over- 
coming their  early  difficulties,  and  now  possess  ten 
stations  with  1500  Christians,"!- — an  earnest  that 
Africa  will  be  won  chiefly  by  Africans. 

Passing  now,  as  at  one  great  stride,  over  Congo- 
Livingstone — where,  since  February  1878,  the  TAviiig- 
stone  (Congo)  Inland  Mission  of  the  East  London 
Institute  for  Home  and  Foreign  Missions  has  been 
seeking  to  gain  a  firm  footing  and  to  advance  from 
the  west  into  the  interior,! — and,  over  the  Portuguese 
territory  of  Angola  and  Benguela — that  great  ceme- 
tery of  Catholic  missions,  where  (as  in  the  east  like- 
wise, on  the  coast  of  Sofala  and  Mozambique),  of  the 
once  flourishing  Portuguese  stations,  there  is  not  one 


*  See,  e.g.,  Proceediuirs  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  1877- 
78,  p.  38. 

+  Cf.  the  sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  in  Bonny  after  violent 
persecutions  of  the  Christians  (Abstract  of  the  Report,    1879,  p. 

X  It  has  five  missionaries,  October  1S79. 


1 1 2         P  1^0  test  ant  Foreio-n  Missions : 

trace  remaining*  —  we  reacli  South  Africa.  Ad- 
vancing do\yn  the  coast  we  come  in  Ocampoland, 
the  most  northerly  outpost  here  of  I^rotestant  mis- 
sions, on  the  work  of  the  Finnish  Lutherans  (among 
the  Ovahereros),  which,  originating  in  the  Ehenish 
mission,  advanced  north; — now  four  stations  have 
been  founded.-]-  Then  comes  the  Ehenish  mission 
in  Hereroland,  which,  after  the  long  storm  of  war, 
is  beginning  again  to  flourish.  It  now^  numbers  13 
stations,  with  2500  converts, J  and  has  been  the 
means  of  giving  to  the  dusky,  giant  race  of  shep- 
herds, seven  feet  high,  the  New  Testament  and  the 
Psalms  in  Otgiherero.  In  the  contiguous  district 
o'f  Great-Xamaqualand — and  here  we  pass  from  the 
black  negroes  to  the  yellow^-brow^n  Hottentots — the 
Ehenish  mission  labours  alone  (now  six  stations  wiili 
about  3300  converts), §  the  Wesleyans  having  retired 
from  the  field.  In  Small-Namaqualand  the  soil, 
naturally  hard,  has  been  further  impoverished  by 
famine,  drought,  and  the  immigration  of  European 
miners,  so  that  many  stations  have  had  to  be  given 

*  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  48. 

t  Lately  the  Finnish  Missionary  Society  Las  also  begun  the 
work  of  evangelisation  anjong  the  Finns  and  Laplanders  on  the 
Esthland  Lslands  in  Gulf  of  Bothnia. 

X  Annual  llepoit  of  the  Rhenish  Missionary  Society,  1877-78, 
p.  19,  sqq. 

§  Annual  llepoit  of  the  Illu'nii-h  Mii-sitaiary  Sociely,  p.  14,  .177., 
and  Gedenkbucli  der  rheiiiischen  Missions-Cjiesellschaft,  1878,  i'. 
168,  S27. 


Their  Preseiit  State,  1 1 3 

up  in  consequence  of  the  departure  of  the  starving 
inhabitants.  Both  the  last  -  mentioned  societies 
are  here  engaged  in  trying  to  save  the  yet  existing 
remnant  of  a  race  rapidly  becoming  extinct.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Ehenish  mission  in  Cape  Colony 
(10  stations  and  about  8000  converts)  has  several 
congregations,  strong  enough  to  be  self  -  support- 
in  o'.* 

o 

It  is  no  more  than  what  was  to  be  ex|)ected, 
when  we  find  in  the  Ca^e  and  its  dependencies  a 
centre,  of  Protestant  missionary  activity,  such  as,  in 
point  of  numbers,  exists  nowdiere  else  in  Africa. 
This  colony  has  become,  as  a  whole,  a  Protestant 
laud.  In  it  branches  of  the  English  State  Church 
and  several  Dissenting  Churches  have  attained  to  a 
certain  amount  of  independence,  and  the  work  among 
the  wdiite  colonists  goes  hand  in  hand  with  that 
among  the  native  and  mixed  races ; — as  in  the 
Anglican  Church,  by  the  extended  labours  of  the 
Propagation  Society,  and  in  the  Dutch  Eeformed 
Church  (the  oldest  Church  of  the  land,  which  for 
so  long  had  taken  no  part  in  the  w^ork  of  evangelisa- 
tion), just  recently,  at  the  instance  of  the  "  Synodal 
Zendingscommissie  in  Zuid-Africa."  We  shall  not 
follow  in  detail  the  thirteen  British  and  Continental 
associations  at  work  here,  but  note  shortly  that  some 


Annual  Report,  1877-78,  p.  7,  sfj^q. 

H 


1 1 4         Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

societies,  making  a  few  stations  in  South  Africa  the 
base  of  tlieir  operations,  are  directing  tlieir  attention 
to  the  North,  with  the  design  of  advancing,  through 
the  interior  of  South  Africa,  out  beyond  the  limits 
of  British  territory.  Thus  the  London  Missionary 
Society ;  and,  as  we  saw  before,  in  the  Cape,  so  now, 
in  British  Caffraria,  it  endeavours  to  make  its  stations 
self-supporting.*  Special  strength  is  expended  on 
the  Betjuan  mission,  which,  in  spite  of  outward 
difficulties,  is  becoming  ever  more  and  more  a  source 
of  light  and  blessing,  especially  in  Kuruman.  The 
]\Iohat  institute,  in  honour  of  the  founder  of  the 
mission  and  translator  of  its  Bible,  was  removed 
thither  in  i876.t  Then,  there  is  the  Berlin  South 
African  mission,  whose  labours,  notwithstanding  very 
limited  means,  extend  over  all  South  Africa,  and 
which,  at  the  Cape,  in  British  Caff'raria,  in  the 
Orange  Free  States,  in  Natal,  and  more  especially 
in  the  recently  annexed  Transvaal,  has  under  its 
care  8000  baptized  converts,  6  district  superinten- 
dents, 42  stations,  53  ordained  missionaries,  and  some 
few  colonists.J  Further,  the  Pai^is  Protestant  mission 
among  the  Basutos,  recovering  from  the  serious 
damage  it  sustained  from  the  Dutch  Boers  of  tlic 


*  LoJidou  Mi88ionary  Society,  Report  for  1S79,  p.  37. 
t  IJ'i'l.,  p.  39- 

X  Cf.   Dr.   W;iiigenianii's  Survey  at    the    Mildni.iy    Confcrencp, 
[878,  p.  50. 


Their  Prese?it  State.  1 1 5 

Orange  States,  has,  under  the  superintendence  of 
15  missionaries  and  122  native  workers,  increased 
to  such  an  extent  that  it  now  possesses  14  chief 
stations  and  6Z  outlying  stations,  with  altogether 
3974  full  members,  1788  candidates  for  baptism,  and 
3130  scholars.*  Lastly,  the  Hermannsburg  mission, 
among  the  Betjuans,  in  and  beyond  Transvaal, 
as  also  among  the  Caffres  in  Natal  and  Zululand, 
has  founded  49  stations,  w^ith  about  5000  baptized 
converts.  It  has  suffered  more  severely  than  the 
Berlin  society  from  the  recent  war,  so  that,  with  the 
burning  Church  question  at  home,  the  position  is 
doubly  critical.  Its  missionaries,  like  those  of 
Sweden,  seem  to  have  quitted  Zululand.  Not  less 
than  thirteen  of  the  Hermannsburg  mission  stations 
have  been  destroyed  by  the  late  war.f 

Other  societies  again,  in  the  Cape,  have  extended 
their  sphere  of  labour  chiefly  to  the  east  and  north- 
east, so  as  to  evangelise  the  Caffres,  both  British  and 
independent.  Thus  the  Moravians  have  acted.  They 
have  now,  in  their  western  province,  seven  principal 
stations  with  ^S^6  converts ;  in  their  eastern,  in  a<^ain 


*  See  Appia's  Report  at  the  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  87,  and 
Ee ports  of  the  Rhenish  Missionary  Society,  1 879,  p.  184,  sqq. 

t  See  Calw.,  Miss.  Blatt.,  1879,  p.  72.  Last  year  about 
700  heathens  in  Africa  were  baptized  in  the  Hermannsburg 
mission. 


1 1 6         Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

seven  stations,  2000  baptized  converts."*  On  this 
side  of  South  Africa  their  mission  has  recently  been 
pushing  forward  witli  more  strengtli  and  increasing 
success  into  heathen  territory.  The  centre  of  gravity 
for  the  Wesleyan  mission,  which,  however,  embraces 
the  Betjuans  in  the  Orange  States  and  tlie  white 
and  coloured  peoples  who  are  engaged  in  the  diamond 
fields  at  the  Vaal,  is  tending  ever  more  and  more  to 
the  east  into  the  Caffre  district  and  up  to  the  Natal 
territory.  The  17,000  Church  members  which  they 
possess  in  69  stations -f-  consist  partly  of  colonists 
and  partly  of  natives.  Whether  the  field  of  mis- 
sionary labour  among  the  Caffres  will  prove  itself 
still  more  intractable  in  consequence  of  the  war, 
we  must  patiently  wait  to  see.  The  "  Tribe-system," 
by  which  the  ground  and  territory  of  a  settlement 
do  not  belong  to  individuals,  but  are  the  property 
of  the  whole  tribe,  has  ever  shown  itself  a  par- 
ticularly great  hindrance  to  social  progress,  and 
conducive  to  the  continuance  of  barbarian  customs 


*  MissionsbUtt,  July  1879  ;  Survey,  p.  47,  S77.  Lately  tlie 
Swedisli  Cliurcli  Missionary  Society  began  a  mission  among 
the  Zulus,  which,  however,  owing  to  the  present  uncertain  condi- 
tion of  the  country,  could  n(^t  get  beyond  a  "mere  sounding  t>f 
the  territory." 

t  Cf.  the  Wesleyan  lle[)ort,  1879,  p.  133  597.,  9  stations  in  the 
district  of  the  Cape  (with  1502  members),  18  stations  in  the  dis- 
trict of   Graham's   Town  (5595   membi'rs  and  21,000   attendants', 


Their  Present  State.  1 1  7 

and  laws.*  Its  abolition,  wliich  is  at  present  under 
the  consideration  of  the  government,  would  remove 
a  great  bulwark  of  darkness,  and  pave  the  way  for 
the  entrance  of  the  Gospel. 

Of  how  much  cultivation  all  the  South  African 
races — Hottentots,  Caffres,  Fingus,  Betjuans,  Basu- 
tos,  and  Zulus — are  capable,  is  shown  most  clearly 
by  the  Lovedale  Institute  in  British  Caffraria,  of 
the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  wdiich  is  flourishing 
and  full  of  promise.  It  is  intended  for  the  training 
of  ministers  and  teachers,  as  also  for  instruction  in 
handicrafts,  agriculture,  &c.  Here  youths  from  all 
the  above-mentioned  tribes  are  taught  along  w^ith 
Europeans ;  three  magazines  appear,  one  in  the 
Caffre  language ;  and  every  Sunday  sixty  students 
proclaim  the  Gospel  in  the  neighbouring  villages.-j- 
There  is  now  a  branch  of  this  institute  in  Blyths- 
wood,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Eei.  Nothing  will,  in 
the  future,  be  more  effectual  in  preventing  Caffre 

14  stations  in  the  Queenstown  district  (with  4288  and  20,oco 
members  respectively^,  14  in  the  Bloemfontein  district  (3805  and 
17,400),  and  14  in  the  Natal  district  (2469  and  26,ooo\ 

*  See  the  remarks  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Blen- 
cowe,  at  the  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  279,  sqq.  It  is  worthy  of 
observation  that  the  fidelity  of  the  Christian  CafFres  to  the  English 
colours  is  repeatedly  mentioned  in  this  war,  cf.  Report  of  the 
Propagation  Society,  1 879,  p.  54. 

t  See  for  further  details  Dr.  Stewart's  address  at  the  Mildmay 
Conference,  p.  68,  sqq.  Already  it  has  sent  forth  four  ordained 
CafiFre  ministers.  See  G.  Smith,  "Fifty  Years  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions," 1879,  p.  58. 


1 1 8        Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

Avars,  than  tlie  multiplication  of  institutions  sucli  as 
this.*  Connected  with  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland 
in  its  seven  principal  stations  in  British  Caffraria 
and  three  in  Xatal,  there  are  2000  communicants; 
while  the  war  has,  alas !  swept  away  five  of  the  six 
stations,  with  a  membership  of  941,  possessed  by  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church.-f  The  ten  stations  of 
the  American  Board,  with  626  members,  in  Natal 
and  Zululand,  are  increasing  but  slowly,  chiefly 
on  account  of  tlie  late  war;  and  the  same  remark 
applies  to  the  Norwegian  mission,  with  its  eleven 
stations,  whose  missionaries  have  now,  in  all  pro- 
bability, been  driven  out  of  Zululand.| 

The  total  number  of  converts  to  Protestantism 
among  the  uncivilised  peoples  of  South  Africa,  may 
be  estimated  at  35,000  communicants  and  about 
1 80,000  adherents. § 

East  and  East-Central  Africa,  once  long  neglected, 
seem  now  to  liave  been  taken  up,  comparatively 
speaking,  rapidly,  by  Protestant  missions.  Here  we 
find  Madarjascar,  that  crown  of  the  London  Society, 
which   may  one  day,  as  regards  missions,  hold  an 

*  See  Sir  Bartle  Frcre,  as  above,  p.  76. 

+  Missionary  Record  of  the  United  Presbj'teriau  Cliurcli,  June 
1879;  Mildniay  Conference,  p.  340. 

X  Report  of  the  American  Board,  1878,  p.  22. 

§  By  J.  E.  Carlylc,  "South  Africa  an<l  its  Mi.s.sion  Fields" 
(London,  1879),  who  describes  the  work  of  tliirteen  Protestant 
missionary  societies  there,  under  Thoruley  Smith,  James  Stevenson, 
&c.  ;  Mihlmay  Conference,  pp.  49,  60. 


Their  P^^esent  State.  1 1 9 

importance  for  East  Africa  similar  to  tliat  wliicli 
England  possesses  for  the  continent  of  Europe.  The 
well-hnown  progress,  unexampled  in  its  rapidity,  of 
the  work  of  evangelisation  among  the  Hovas,  since 
Christianity  became  the  State  religion  (1868,  21,000 
Christians;  1869,  153,000;  1870,  231,000,  in  con- 
nection with  the  London  Missionary  Society),  has 
within  recent  years  received  what  at  first  sight  might 
seem  a  check.  The  Church  in  Madas^ascar  has  been 
subjected  to  a  sifting  process,  as  was  only  right  and 
needful  it  should,  in  order  that  the  foundation  of 
Christian  faith  might  be  laid  more  deeply  and  firmly 
in  the  great  body  of  nominal  Christians  ;  that  old 
and  deeply-rooted  immorality  and  cruelty  might  be 
more  thoroughly  eradicated ;  *  and  especially  that 
native  teachers  and  pastors  might  be  raised  up,  who 
would  educate  the  young  Protestant  Xational  Church 
to  perfect  independence  and  constant  self-extension. 
It  is,  then,  not  a  sign  of  decrease,  but  rather  of  pro- 
gress, that  the  number  of  adherents  in  connection 
with  the  London  mission  has  fallen  from  upwards 
of  280,000  to  about  233,000 ;-f-  for  at  the  same  time 
the  number  of  actual  communicants  has  increased 


*  Cf.  the  many  complaints  of  backslidings  into  heathen  errors, 
which  could  not  fail  to  take  place  with  such  rapid  progress.  See 
London  Report,  1879,  p.  25,  sqq.^  with  reference  to  the  revival  of 
the  judgment  of  Tangena  (poisonous  draught). 

+  Probably,  too,  there  has  been  some  over-estimation  in  former 
statistics. 


I  20         Protestant  Fo7'eini  JMissions  : 

by  6000  during  tlie  past  year,  and  is  now  67,729. 
If  we  add  the  following  facts: — tliat  now  as  many 
as  ^86  native  ordained  pastors,  156  evangelists,  and 
3468  local  preachers  are  engaged,  under  superinten- 
dence of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  in  helping 
to  reap  this  immense  harvest ;  that,  besides  several 
higher  educational  establishments,  there  are  784 
day-schools,  with  an  attendance  of  44,794  children, 
of  whom  now  upwards  of  20,000  can  read ;  *  that 
the  salutary  influence  exercised  by  the  royal  decree 
for  the  liberation  of  the  imported  negro  slaves  has 
marked  a  great  advance  in  social  progress,  preparing 
the  way,  as  it  has  done,  for  the  total  abolition  of  all 
household  slavery; — we  see  that  we  have  before  us, 
consecrated  by  the  blood  of  many  martyrs,  a  success 
unequalled  for  extent  in  the  liistory  of  Protestant 
missions,  and  great  enough  to  vindicate  from  all 
attacks  missionary  labour,  as  power  blessed  of  God. 
Yes,  we  may  well  be  constrained  to  cry,  "  This  is 
the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes ! " 

This  extraordinary  *•'  draught  of  fishes "  has,  as 
was  to  be  expected,  attracted  other  crafts.  It  has 
been  a  matter  of  much  sorrow  to  all  the  friends  of 
missions,  except  High  Churchmen,  that  the  Pro- 
pagation Society,  in  spite  of  the  general  opposition 
encountered  in  England,  insisted  on  appointing  an 

*  London  Report,  1879,  pp.  28,  30. 


Their  Present  State.  i  2 1 

Anglican  bisliop  for  Madagascar; — so  much  so 
that,  in  consequence  of  the  action,  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  at  once,  in  the  noblest  manner, 
retired  from  the  field  here.  A  remarkable  instance 
this  of  how  denominational  interests  and  eccle- 
siastical forms  may  be  placed  above  the  fraternal 
duty  of  rejoicing  with  another  in  his  success.  In 
a  Church  of  the  people,  like  that  of  Madagascar, 
so  essentially  congregationalist  in  character,  nothing 
but  confusion  is  likely  to  arise  from  the  introduc- 
tion of  High  Churchism,  so  diametrically  opposed 
to  all  its  ecclesiastical  principles  and  practices. 
This  mission  of  the  Propagation  Society,  like  that 
of  the  Eoman  Catholics,  has,  however,  as  yet  been 
attended  with  but  meagre  results.*  Along  with 
these,  in  Madagascar,  are :  the  Missionary  Union 
of  the  Quakers,  which  has  done  good  service  in 
bringing  about  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  in  erect- 
ing schools  ;-f-  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Society,  which 
in  1874  possessed  six  principal  stations,  and  now 
has  1000  baptized  converts,  4000  children  receiving 

*  E.g.,  in  Antananariro  only  159  ;  see  Report  of  the  Propagation 
Society,  1879,  p.  48.  Carlyle  (see  above)  complains,  too,  that 
some  missionaries  of  the  Propagation  Society  in  South  Africa,  in 
their  zeal  for  their  own  Church,  meddle  with  other  successful 
missions. 

t  See  Report  of  the  Quaker  missionary,  Mr.  Clark,  at  the  Mildmay 
Conference,  p.  284,  sqq. ;  and  "  Illustrated  Missionary  News," 
February  1880,  p.  15,  where  the  number  of  Quaker  mission  schools 
in  Madagascar  is  given  as  85,  with  2860  scholars. 


I  2  2         Protestant  FoTcii^n  ]\Iissions  : 

instruction  in  its  schools,  and  last  year  returned  the 
number  of  its  adherents  at  20,000.*  Tlie  Anglican 
mission  on  the  Island  of  Mauritius,  and  those  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  and  Propagation  Society  f 
in  the  Scychclle  ArcJdjKlago,  we  mention  here  only 
in  passing. 

On  the  mainland  of  Eastern  Africa  the  coast  of 
Zanzihar  deserves  special  notice,  not  only  because 
the  little  island  of  a  similar  name  has  long:  been  the 
seat  of  the  English  University  mission  for  Central 
Africa,  but  more  especially  from  the  circumstance, 
that  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  East  African 
mission,  now  reinforced  and  strengthened,  has  here 
founded  a  second  Sierra  Leone,  for  the  purpose  of 
affording  continuous  support  to  the  exertions  of 
the  English  Government  to  suppress  slavery, — the 
flourishing  colony  of  Frerc  Town,  near  Mombas,  the 
fame  of  which  is  becinnincj  to  be  known  and  its 
influence  felt  far  and  wide.J  Several  hundred  freed 
slaves  here  receive  instruction,  and  they,  with  the 
addition  of  African  Christians  from  other  places, 
form  a  Church.  In  her  two  stations  here  this  society 
has  already  608  Christians,  including  those  in  the 
a!iain  revivin^^  Wanika  mission.     The  mission  of  the 

o  o 


*  See  AUgemeine  Mi.s8ions-Z<!it8chrlft,  187S,  ]i.  513, 

+  The   latter   now    lias    1055    Ciuirch    members    in    Mauritius. 

lleport,  1879,  p.  48. 

X  AV).stract  of   tlie  Church  Missionary  Society's    Report,    1S79, 

p.  6,  Sqq, 


Their  Present  State.  1 23 

United  Methodist  Free  Cliurcli,  too,  is  gradually 
obtaining  a  firmer  hold. 

Unique  in  the  history  of  modern  missions  is  the 
courageous  advance  of  various  societies  to  the  great 
Central  Lalccs  of  Eastern  Africa,  on  the  way  opened 
up  by  Livingstone  and  Stanley.  On  the  shores  of 
the  Nyassa  lake  we  see  Scottish  missionaries,  more 
particularly  those  of  the  Free  Church,  and  colonists 
(since  1875)  ^^  Livingstonia*  and  Blantyre,  raising 
to  the  great  friend  of  Africa  the  most  beautiful  of 
monuments — a  living  one — a  garden  of  God  in  the 
midst  of  the  wilderness.  Divine  service  has  been 
instituted,  schools  have  been  opened,  the  slave  trade 
suppressed,  the  confidence  of  the  natives  is  increas- 
ing, and  the  founding  of  a  Church  is  in  contem- 
plation. Even  now  the  first  of  the  lady  physicians 
from  Scotland  is  on  her  way  thither.-|- 

Farther  to  the  north  the  expedition  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  in  August  1878,  reached  Lake 
Tanganyika,  in  Ujiji,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
a  settlement  there ;  and  its  unwearied  director.  Dr. 
Mullens,  set  out  himself  to  assist  in  overcoming 
the  initial  difficulties,  by  opening  up  a  new  route 


*  On  account  of  the  tsetse  flies,  the  site  of  the  colony  will  have 
to  be  changed. 

t  Church  of  Scotland  Record,  1879,  P-  267,  ^qq. 


124         Protestant  Foreign  JMissions  : 

from  Zanzibar.*  Farther  up  still,  tlie  Church 
Missionary  Society's  expedition,  undertaken  on  the 
report  furnished  by  Mr.  Stanley,  has  not  only 
founded  the  intermediate  station  Nyswapwa,  witli 
two  missionaries,  on  the  way  from  Zanzibar  to  the 
great  Victoria  Nyanza  Lake  (1876),  but  on  tlie 
Nyanza  itself,  in  Eubaga,  the  capital  of  the  learning- 
loving  King  Mtesa  of  Uganda,  has  opened  two 
principal  stations  and  missionary  colonies  (1877),  It 
has  further,  by  sending  reinforcements  partly  up  the 
Nile  and  partly  from  Zanzibar,  strengthened  the  ranks 
of  the  pioneers,  weakened  as  they  were  by  several 
bitter  losses.-f-  Unfortunately  French  Jesuits,  re- 
cently arrived,  are  putting  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
the  EuGjlish  mission,  to  which  a  doctor  renders  sicjnal 
service.^  According  to  the  latest  information, 
however,  it  would  appear  that  the  New  Testament,§ 
translated. by  Bishop  Steere  of  Zanzibar  into  Suaheli, 
can  be  understood  by  some  tribes  around  the  great 
lakes  and  even  in  Uganda.  This  must  serve  con- 
siderably to  lighten  the  work  of  evangelisation,  as 


*  London  Report,  1 879,  p.  46,  sqq.  It  is  with  deep  regret  that 
■we  hear  that  he  there  has  met  with  his  death — a  severe  loss  for 
tlie  whole  of  Protestant  missions. 

t  See  Church  Missionary  Report,  1S78,  p.  53,  sqq.,  and  Abstract, 
1879,  P-  7.  «77- 

X  See  Cluirch  Missionary  lutelligencer,  December  1879,  p.  725, 
s<iq. 

§  From  a  notice  in  the  "  Christian,"  3d  July  1S79. 


Their  Pi'esent  State,  1 2  5 

the  treaty  between  England  and  Portugal  (June 
1879),  relative  to  the  opening  up  of  the  Zambesi  for 
commerce,  must  further  the  founding  of  new  colonies. 
Let  us  hope  that  soon  the  expedition  of  the  American 
Board  in  Boston  to  Central  Africa,  will  strengthen 
and  widen  the  labours  of  the  British  pioneers,  begun 
with  such  noble  harmony  of  all  concerned !  * 

The  Protestant  missionary  enterprises  in  Abyssinia, 
among  nominal  Christians  and  Jews,  of  some  Cris- 
cliona  Brethren  (in  the  service  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society),  and  the  London  Jewish 
Mission,  belong  only  in  part  to  mission  work  among 
uncultivated  peoples.  They  have  been  continued 
since  1865,  principally  in  the  form  of  school  work, 
more  particularly  by  the  Swedish  Fosterland  Society, 
on  the  Egypto- Abyssinian  frontier,  and  under  heavy 
losses.  Since  the  destruction  of  their  only  Abyssinian 
station,  Hamasen,  the  missionaries  are  now  waiting  for 
more  peaceful  times,  in  order  again  to  advance  over 
the  frontier,  from  Masurah  and  Menzaleh.f  Their 
original  intention  was  to  penetrate  as  far  as  Gallas, 
and  this  they  are  on  the  fair  way  to  accomplish,  for 
they  have  sent  thither  several  native  Christians,! 
after  having  established  (1877)  a  station  in  Galla- 


*  Sir  Thomas  F.  Buxton  at  the  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  49. 
t  See  Allgemeine  Missious-Zeitscbrift,  1879,  p.  186. 
X  Missions-Tiduing,  May   1879  ;  Calw.  Mission.  Magaziu.,  1879, 
p.  70. 


1 26         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

land.  That  the  influence  of  the  Crischona-Brother 
Mayer  on  the  King,  Menelek,  of  Shoa  has  not  been 
without  result,  is  testified  by  the  hatter's  recent 
declaration,  that,  as  a  Christian,  he  has  abolished 
slavery  throughout  his  wliole  kingdom.*  Egyptian 
missions  we  shall  touch  on  when  we  come  to  con- 
sider Mohammedan  countries. 

Let  us  here  pause  for  a  little,  that,  from  these  end- 
lessly ramified  missionary  operations  among  uncivi- 
lised peoples  we  may  draiv  several  lessons  of  cTpcrience, 
as  these  press  themselves  with  ever  greater  force  on 
the  attention  of  the  societies ;  always  admitting,  of 
course,  that  action,  in  individual  cases,  must  be  in- 
finitely varied,  according  to  difference  in  race,  reli- 
gion, natural  capacity,  and  social  circumstances. 

A  missionary's  first  duty  must  be  gradually  to 
gain  the  confidence  of  a  i^eoplc  who  are  entirely 
strange  to  him.  And  this  among  perfect  barbarians 
is  often  no  easy  matter.  Were  the  missionary  the 
first  white  face  they  had  ever  seen  there  would  be 
less  difficulty.  But  this  is  very  seldom  the  case. 
Others  have  been  there  before,  sent  not  by  the  Lord, 
but  attracted  thither  by  the  desire  for  gain  or  the  love 
of  adventure,  who  have  only  too  often  abused  their 
superior  civilisation  in  j)lun(leriiig  tlie  unfortunate 
heathen.     This  has  implanted  a  deeply- rooted  and 

*  Siic  his  letter  to  the  Auti-Slavery  Society  in  London,  since 
published  by  many  uewspaper.s  ;  see  Reichsboto,  August  19,  1879. 


Their  Present  State,  i  2  7 

a  well-justified  mistrust,  wliere  it  lias  not  left  hatred 
and  a  desire  for  revenge.  How  difficult  must  it 
be  for  such  a  people  to  believe  that  any  one  has 
come,  not  for  his  own  sake,  but  for  theirs !  The 
missionary  must  make  them  feel  that  he  is  there  to 
give,  not  to  take ;  to  alleviate  their  misery,  not  to 
make  capital  out  of  their  ignorance.  And  for  this 
end  deeds,  not  words,  are  necessary ;  not  a  periodical 
giving  of  presents,  and  a  training-up  of  so-called 
"  rice  Christians,"  but  a  life  full  of  goodness  and  kind- 
ness, ever  the  same  in  Christian  charity  and  meek- 
ness. Here,  an  educated,  a  pardoned  Christian ; 
there,  an  uncultivated,  dull,  darkness-bound  heathen, 
of  a  different  colour  and  a  different  race — over  this 
gulf,  so  inconceivably  wide.  Christian  love  alone  can 
build  the  bridge.  ''I  have  found,"  a  missionary 
from  New  Guinea  exclaims,*  "  that  human  kindness 
is  a  key  which  unlocks  every  door,  however  firmly  it 
may  seem  to  be  closed  against  us.  In  the  early  days 
of  a  mission,  like  that  of  New  Guinea,  very  little  de- 
pendence can  be  placed  on  oral  teaching.  I  believe 
strongly,  more  strongly  now  than  ever,  in  the  power 
of  a  consistent  Christian  life."  Thus,  on  the  coast 
of  that  island,  the  missionaries  are  everywhere 
welcomed  as  peacemakers  and  friends. 

And  why  do  I  speak  thus  ?     Just  because  it  never 

*  The  missionary  Mr.  Lawes  ;  see  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  283. 


128         Protestant  For ei 211  Missions 


^> 


can  be  too  inucli  impressed  on  the  missionary,  that 
personal  life  can  least  of  all  he  separated  from  the 
preaching  of  the  Word  of  Life,  if  that  Word  is  to  be 
living  and  fruitful.  Everywhere,  but  more  especially 
among  uncivilised  peoples,  the  life  attracts  the  souls 
far  more  to  Christ  than  preaching.  "  It  is  an  easy 
matter  for  a  young,  vigorous  missionary,  fresh  from  the 
schools,  and  strong  in  his  own  convictions  of  truth,  to 
go  rapidly  from  village  to  village  '  bearing  witness,' 
and  then  to  come  home  feeling  that  he  has  fulfilled 
his  mission ;  but  real  missionary  work  needs  far 
more  than  that, — it  needs  constant  exhibitions  of 
tenderness  and  love. "  *  Nor  was  it  in  vain  that 
Livingstone -f-  reminded  the  missionary,  that  even 
when  he  has  to  do  with  the  most  savage  races, 
politeness  and  good  manners  are  of  much  worth.  His 
very  surerior  cidture,  this  "  specificum  "  of  modern 
missions,  may  often  te7npt  him  to  treat  the  natives 
too  much  en  has,  or  even  with  haughtiness  and  rude- 
ness, instead  of  with  the  pity  that  shone  in  the 
Great  Shepherd's  eye,  when  He  was  moved  with 
compassion  over  the  famishing,  scattered,  shepherd- 
less  sheep,  and  with  that  love  which  alone  can 
combine  the  firmness  and  delicacy  of  feeling  neces- 
sary to  a  wisely-directed,  educaliunal  training.     In 

*  The  missionary  Mr.  Hughes,  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  332, 
t  Missionary  Sacrifices  ;  see  the  Catholic  Picsbyterian,  January 
1879. 


Their  Present  State.  129 

some  places  the  missionaries — some  of  the  Germans 
also  in  Africa — have  been  found  wanting  in  this 
respect.  But  what  shall  we  say  to  the  recent  con- 
duct of  an  English  missionary — a  Wesleyan — in  the 
South  Seas,  who,  either  in  self-defence,  or  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  stern  example,  in  company 
with  other  colonists,  avenged  with  blood  the 
murder  of  several  native  teachers  by  the  canni- 
bals of  Duke  of  York  Island  ?  An  unheard  -  of 
mistake  on  the  part  of  a  Protestant  missionary, 
and  one  not  sufficiently  censured  by  the  mild  ex- 
pressions of  regret  from  the  Australian-AYesleyan 
Conference.  Against  it  other  missionaries  should 
have  entered  a  protest,  inasmuch  as  such  a  proceed- 
ing was  likely  to  compromise  and  render  difficult  all 
missionary  work  in  these  districts.* 

As  regards  instruction,  the  method  employed  by 
the  Master  proves  itself,  with  ever-increasing  clear- 
ness, to  be  the  true  one,  especially  among  peoples 
still    un civilised. -f-      Christ   did    not   expound   any 

*  The  Illustrated  Missionary  News,  February  i,  1879,  and  Allge- 
meine  Mission s-Zeitschrift,  1879,  p.  186,  sqq.;  Calw.  Mission. 
Magazin.,  i879,'  p.  48.  A  missionary  has  no  right  to  exercise 
justice  by  means  of  the  sword,  even  towards  cannibals,  for  which 
reason  many  friends  of  missions  were  of  opinion  that  the  missionary 
(Mr.  Brown)  should  at  once  have  been  dismissed.  This — fortu- 
nately solitary — scandal  was  doubtless  tua  res  agitur  for  other 
missionaries  as  well.  That  which  harms  the  common  cause  ought 
also  in  common  to  be  rejected. 

t  Cf.  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1S74,  p.  42.  Private 
letters  of  an  African  Basel  missionary  to  myself  confirm  this. 

I 


Protestant  Foreio-ii  Missions 


<b 


artificially  detailed  system;  He  chose  rather  to  plant 
many  fruitful  seeds — forming  a  distinct  whole — in  the 
liearts  of  His  disciples,  from  which,  under  the  quick- 
ening influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  great  tree  of 
apostolic  doctrine  should  be  afterwards  developed. 
In  dealing  with  persons  who  are  unaccustomed  to 
iiabits  of  abstract  thought,  care  must  be  taken  not  to 
systematise  too  much,  but  to  rest  contented  with  the 
mere  essentials,  presented  in  a  form  elementary,  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  easily  comprehended  and  concise. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  matter  of  experience,  that 
heathen  Christians  who  cannot  read  are  liable  to 
degenerate  spiritually,  if,  previous  to  baptism,  they 
have  had  only  a  superficial  teaching,  inasmuch  as 
they  never  can  derive  the  same  benefit  from  preach- 
ing as  those  who  have  been  better  instructed.  The 
almost  universal  complaint,  that  many  newly-bap- 
tized converts  are  wanting  in  inward  strength,  is 
in  great  measure  due  to  the  habit  of  baptizing  too 
soon.  An  exteiided  course  of  instruction  previous  to 
baptism  is  then,  as  the  rule,  to  be  recommended,  if 
many  of  the  converts  are  not  to  disappear  entirely 
when  placed  in  different  circumstances,  tliat  is,  are 
not  to  be  lost  amonof  the  multitude  of  heathen, 
as,  alas  !  too  often  happens  among  the  negroes  of 
West  Africa.*     Only  in  cases  where  a  community 

*  The  old  controversy,  as  to  wliether  an  lieathcn  sliould  be  bap- 
tized only  after  his  genuine  conversion,  or  whenever  he  honestly 


Their  Present  State,  1 3 1 

is,  comparatively  speaking,  but  little  exposed  to 
temptation,  as  when  it  is  situated  far  into  the 
interior,  and  less  likely  to  be  brought  into  contact 
with  the  profligate  Europeans  on  the  coast,  and,  more 
especially,  where  there  already  exists  a  nucleus  of 
active,  experienced  Christians,  ready  to  support  and 
train  those  who  are,  as  yet,  babes  in  Christ — in 
other  words,  when  there  is  no  longer  any  question 
of  founding  a  church — and  in  other  very  exceptional 
cases,  may  a  shorter  period  of  instruction  suffice. 
Nowhere  less  than  in  a  mission  must  work  accord- 
ing to  samples  be  carried  on.  Here  it  is  the  free 
inspection  and  the  independent  testing  of  every  in- 
dividual that  is  needed.  The  character  of  a  people, 
and  the  nature  of  their  country — India,  different 
from  Africa — must,  to   a  certain  degree,  alter   the 


renounces  idols,  and  turns  to  the  living  God  and  His  revelation  in 
Christ  (cf.  Heidenbotc,  1878,  p.  76),  is  one  which  will  lead  to  a 
different  practice,  according  to  the  significance  attached  to  baptism 
and  the  sacraments  generally.  Neither  of  the  two  practices  or 
views  should  be  made  to  apply  with  equal  rigour  in  all  places. 
The  missionary  must  examine  into  every  case  thoroughly,  and, 
according  to  circumstances,  act  promptly  or  with  deliberation. 
Even  in  the  primitive  Church  different  methods  were  employed. 
According  to  the  Clementine  JJomilies,  Niceta  was  baptized  by 
Peter  after  only  one  day's  preparation,  "Alioque  multis  dithus  opor- 
tebat  ante  instrui  et  doceri"  (vii.  34).  Another  passage  speaks  of  a 
three,  months'  preparation  as  necessary.  The  Apostolic  Constitu- 
tions (lib.  viii.  cap.  32)  lay  down  three  years  as  the  proper  dura- 
tion of  a  catechumenate,  without,  however,  making  this  term  bind- 
ing, because  ovx  0  xpo''os  a\X'  6  rpowos  Kpiperai — plainly  a  right 
canon. 


132         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

method  of  proceeding.  The  negro,  with  a  nature 
somewhat  soft  and  sensuous,  easily  aroused  and  not 
very  reliable,  must  be  put  through  a  course  of 
thorough  moral  training,  with  less  that  is  exciting, 
and  more  of  what  is  essential  to  the  formation  of 
character. 

It  is  further  being  every  day  more  generally 
acknowledged,  that  the  frequent  change  of  its  mis- 
sionaries is  eminently  prejudicial  to  a  mission  in  its 
progress.  Mere  temporary  service  is  not  to  much 
profit.  The  speediest  possible  acquirement  of  the 
language  is  accordingly  made  imperative  on  their 
missionaries  by  all  the  societies,  nearly  without 
exception.  Speaking  through  an  interpreter  is,  and 
must  be,  of  very  questionable  worth,  even  when  the 
preacher  does  not  always  fare  so  badly  as  the  Scotch 
missionary  at  Lake  Nyassa,  who  heard  his  "  John 
Knox  "  unhesitatingly  translated  by  "  John  the  Ox."  * 
It  is  abundantly  evident,  also,  how  important  for  a 
people  with  a  language  as  yet  unwritten  must  be 
the  literary  labours  of  the  missionary,  who  thus  lays, 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  the  foundation-stone 
of  a  people's  future  literature.  The  results  of  the 
various  missions,  however,  have  Ijcen  unequal  in 
this  respect,  no  doubt  owing  in  part  to  tlic  frequent 

*  See  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1879,  p.  183.  Oraul  (soe 
aliove),  p.  135,  says  of  tlic  preacliiiig  tlirough  interpreters,  "The 
result  is  next  to  notliiiig." 


Their  Present  State,  133 

change  of  the  missionaries/*  But  a  too  speedy 
translation  of  the  v:liole  of  the  Scriptures  into  an 
unprinted  language  has  its  drawbacks.  It  requires 
long  familiarity  with  a  language,  and  deep  penetra- 
tion into  its  spirit,  to  be  able — after  much  prayer — 
to  create  and  coin  expressions  and  ideas,  which  will 
be  of  infinite  importance  for  the  future  growth  of 
the  community  in  Christian  civilisation.  For  a 
time,  at  least,  the  more  important  parts  of  Scripture 
should  be  considered  sufficient. 

Of  course,  preaching  must  everywhere  go  hand  in 
hand  with  school  instruction.  Among  a  barbarous, 
uncivilised  people,  hope  is  centred  in  the  young ;  for 
those  advanced  in  years  have,  many  of  them,  become 
blunted  almost  beyond  the  possibility  of  recovery. 
Good  schools  and,  in  course  of  time,  educational  insti- 
tutions are  indispensable  for  every  mission.  T\\q  first 
aim  of  a  school  must  be  to  train  independent  Church 
members ;  but  there  is  a  second  and  higher  one,  that 
of  raising  up  a  body  of  native  teachers.  And  these  two 
ought  not  to  be  mixed  up  nor  identified  with  each 
other,  but  be  determined  always  by  the  actual  w^ants 
of  every  community.  If  a  heathen  school  be  made 
prematurely,  i.e.,  in  the  early  stage  of  the  mission, 


*  Cf.,  e.g.,  the  achievements  of  the  Basel  missionaries  in  West 
Africa — one  of  whom,  some  time  ago,  received  a  gold  medal  from 
the  Academy  at  Paris,  for  his  philological  works — as  compared  to 
those  of  the  Wesleyans  in  the  same  district. 


Protestant  Forcio-n  JMissions 


<!> 


an  institute  for  training  native  agents,  before  the 
Christian  community  is  in  a  position  to  support  it, 
and  to  keep  it  supplied  with  capable  scholars,  ex- 
perience has  often  shown,  as  among  Indians  and 
negroes,  that  the  preachers  thus  produced  are,  for 
the  most  part,  intellectually  weak  and  dwarfed. 
First  of  all,  then,  by  means  of  preaching  and  ele- 
mentary instruction,  a  basis  of  living,  active  Church 
members  must  be  formed; — that  once  there,  the 
higher  education  necessary  for  the  native  pastor 
or  teacher  can  be  more  easily  continued  in  the 
spirit  of  Christianity.  A  missionary  recently  wrote 
to  me :  "  For  the  first  few  years  of  a  mission  a 
thoroughly  converted  young  man,  taken  out  of  the 
congregation,  of  but  imperfect  culture,  but  with  a 
decidedly  Christian  spirit  and  a  good  understanding, 
is  of  more  value  to  the  school  than  one  who  is  well 
trained  but  not  thoroughly  converted."  And  wdien 
really  fundamental  work  has  to  be  done  in  a  mission, 
only  permanently  disastrous  results  will  ensue,  when 
those  wlio  are  called  npon  to  do  it  are  themselves 
mechanical  and  lifeless  in  si)iritual  matters.*  Ko 
one,  should  have  more  imparled  to  him  than  is  propor^ 
tionate  to  his  cajmciti/,  otherivisc  the  result  u'ill  he  that 
he  becomes  rain'jlorioiis !  I'articular  care  must  be 
taken,  that  the  enliglitenment  of  the  conscience,  tlie 

*  Cf.  Allgcmcine  Missions-Zcitsclirift,  1876,  p.  459. 


T/iei?'  Present  State,  135 

moral  and  religious  discipline  of  the  heart  and  ^vill, 
keep  pace  with  the  acquisition  of  knowledge. 

Connected  with  this  stands  the  general  question, 
as  to  the  "  civilising  training  "  of  barbarian  peoples  in 
general.  We  must  not  he  precipitate  in  insisting  upon 
the  mere  externals  of  civilisation,  so  as  physically  to  ruin 
both  heathen  and  heathen  concerts  ;  nor  must  we  be 
led  astray  by  those  fanatics — in  this  age  of  ours,  with 
its  "  culture-war  " — out  of  sympathy  w4th  all  Biblical 
teaching,  so  as  to  dispense  with  that  fundamental 
principle  of  missions,  confirmed  by  the  experience 
of  all  nations,  that  externals  are  to  be  made  im- 
perative only  in  so  far  as  they  are  in  some  way 
connected  with  spiritual  life.  It  is  one  thing  to 
encourage  habits  of  industry  and  legitimate  gain,  of 
cleanliness,  decent  clothing,  and  healthy  dwellings, 
— social  progress  which  everywhere  of  itself  accom- 
panies the  Gospel ;  but  it  is  quite  different  with 
the  luxuries  and  necessities  of  civilisation,  which 
are  not,  as  with  us,  the  result  of  a  long  process  of 
social  development,  and,  therefore,  a  possession  we 
are  capable  of  using,  but  are  suddenly  introduced 
among  a  people  totally  unprepared  for  them  and 
whom  they  morally,  spiritually,  and  physically  com- 
pletely enervate.* 

*  Cf.  Warneck,  "Die  gegenseitigen  Beziehungen  zwischen  der 
niodernen  Mission  und  Cultur,"  pp.  281-296.  As  also  the  missionary- 
Mr.  Lawes  (New  Guinea)  on  the  want  of  success  of  all  merely  exter- 
nal means  of  culture,  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  2S3. 


1 36         Protestant  Foreign  lilissions  : 

That  this  hist  result  is  due,  not  to  missions  only, 
but  to  contact  'witli  the  outer  world  of  any  kind, 
we  have  proof  in  those  repulsive  caricatures  of 
civilisation,  the  "dandies"  and  "belles"  of  Africa 
and  the  South  Seas,  and  in  part,  too,  in  the  rapid 
extinction  of  so  many  native  tribes.  I  do  not 
speak  here  of  the  desolation  wrought  by  brandy, 
which  simply  paralyses  any  deeper  influence  of 
missions  among  the  Indians ;  I  would  ratlier  call 
attention  to  the  fact,  that  when  the  Esquimaux 
acquire  the  liabit  of  drinking  coffee  instead  of  their 
wonted  oil,  they  become,  as  has  often  been  observed, 
incapable  of  withstanding  the  force  of  their  trying 
climate.  Mr.  Murray,  the  experienced  missionary 
to  the  South  Seas,  gives  us  here  the  clearest  and  most 
reliable  opinion  when  he  says,  "All  external  pro- 
gress, meant  to  be  lasting,  must  not  be  forced  un- 
timely upon  a  nation.  The  people  must,  in  the  first 
place,  be  spiritually,  morally,  and  religiously  so  far 
raised,  as  really  to  fed  those  wants  which  create  a  de- 
sire for  the  comforts  and  requirements  of  civilised  life. 
Inward  and  outward  things  must  go  hand  in  hand." 

It  follows,  then,  that  everything  of  the  nature  of 
an  industry  introduced  into  a  mission  station  must 
also  be  made  subservient  to  great  S2)iritual  ends. 
However  healthy  and  necessary  the  erection  of 
workshops  may  be,  the  direction  of  these  should 
never  be  a  matter  so  complicated  as  to  engross  the 


Their  Present  State,  137 

whole  time  of  the  'personnel  in  the  station.  And  if 
the  staff  be  composed  for  the  most  part  of  pastors, 
schoolmasters,  and  overseers  of  workshops,  the  spirit 
and  healthy  develojDment  of  the  mission  will  soon 
disappear. 

But,  along  with  the  judicious  introduction  of 
outward  culture,  there  is  the  duty  of  never  making 
Christianity  the  means  of  denationalising  any  people, 
even  the  most  barbarous,  otherwise  the  strength  of 
the  nation  will  lose  in  substance  what  cannot  again 
be  made  good.  All  that  is  capable  of  being  turned 
to  account  in  the  character  of  a  people,  and  stands 
merely  in  need  of  purification,  must  be  carefully 
distinguished  from  what  is  to  be  condemned.  That 
only  is  to  be  changed,  "  which,"  as  Bishop  Patteson 
aptly  puts  it,  "  is  incompatible  with  the  simplest 
form  of  Christian  teaching  and  life."  *  In  this 
respect  English  missionaries  among  the  Indians 
have  come  far  short.  They  have  not  entered  suffi- 
ciently into  the  character  of  the  Indian  mind,  and 
they  have  too  little  accommodated  themselves  to  a 
strange  people,  with  the  view  of  respecting  and 
retaining  what  in  its  way  is  justifiable  enough. 
Even  Englishmen  like  Bishop  Patteson  have  ac- 
knowledged this.  The  missionary  must  study  thep)ecu- 
liaritics  of  a  people,  believing  that  even  to  a  weak, 

*  Baur,  J.  C.  Patteson,  p.  189.    See  also  Christlieb,  "  Missions- 
beruf  des  evangel.  Deutschlands, "  p.  20,  sqq^. 


1 3  8         Protestant  Foreiqii  Alissions  : 

frivolous,  fickle  cliaracter  the  Gospel  is  capable  of 
oiviniT  streiiiitli — strenc^tli  to  the  feeble  limbs,  and 
courage  to  the  timorous  soul.  The  living  water  of  the 
Divine  Word  contains  an  admixture  of  iron  ! 

The  mistaken  system  of  Europcanising  native 
agents  may  be  but  the  beginning  of  tlie  denationa- 
lising process.  Not  only  are  unnecessary  demands 
thus  made  on  the  funds  at  home,  but  the  native 
missionary  is  placed  in  a  false  position  among  his 
own  people.  As  far  as  a  Christian  education  will 
permit  of  it,  he  should  ever  remain  even  in  manner 
of  life  one  of  themselves,  for  only  thus  will  his 
Church  be  able  to  support  him.  In  this  particular 
many  errors  have  been  committed,  and  how  far 
tliese  may  have  been  due  to  the  inferior  quality  of 
the  European  agents,  is  a  matter  we  commend  to 
the  consideration  of  the  directors  of  the  various 
societies.  The  same  remark  applies,  it  may  be  said 
in  passing,  to  the  widely  prevalent,  though  wrong 
and  unjustifiable,  custom  M'hich  native  Christians 
have  adopted  in  India,  of  wearing  European  clothing 
when  employed  as  clerks,  secretaries,  &c.,  in  order  to 
obtain  higher  wages.* 

It  requires  really  no  ordinary  men — men  pre-emi- 
nent in  enlightenment,  intelligence,  and  strength  of 
character — to  have  any  formative  influence  on  the 

*  I  liave  heard  tliis  connrinctl  ami  e(jiii]>laiiic(l  of  l)y  several 
Indian  missionaries. 


Their  Present  State.  139 

minds  and  hearts  of  a  barbarous  people.  A  whole 
host  of  mediocre  Europeans,  so  far  from  ever  by 
degrees  conquering  a  heathen  land,  will  only  render 
that  task  more  difficult  for  men  better  than  they. 
It  is  the  natives  themselves  who  must  perform  the 
chief  part.  Men  are  required,  the  clear  and  conscious 
purpose  of  whose  work  will  be  to  raise  the  native 
Church  gradually  to  the  full  indcjpcncUnce  of  self- 
support,  self-government,  and  self-extension.  From 
every  worker  in  the  mission,  down  to  the  very 
artisan,  must  then  be  demanded  the  broad  view,  the 
self-denial,  the  humility  of  working  with  the  sole 
purpose  of  rendering  himself  unnecessary^  and  of 
seeing  the  natives  enter  into  this  labour.  In  America 
the  old  notion,  that  missionaries  should  become  the 
pastors  of  native  congregations,  has  been  entirely 
abandoned.*  AVith  us,  too,  it  must  be  discarded 
more  and  more,  both  in  theory  and  practice.  The 
industrial  establishments  also  must,  through  time, 
be  severed  from  the  mission,  so  as  likewise  to  become 
the  private  undertakings  of  the  natives.  The  whole 
"personnel  of  the  station  must  ever  seek  to  impress 
the  heathen  with  the  idea,  that  they  do  not  intend 

*  In  a  private  letter  of  Dr.  A.  C.  Thompson,  of  the  American 
Board,  to  myself,  he  says,  "We  urge  upon  all  missionaries  the 
importance  of  bringing  forward,  as  early  and  fast  as  is  consistent, 
native  preachers  and  pastors,  with  a  view  to  have  tliis  work  of 
foreigners  pass  over  into  a  home,  missionary  work  at  the  earliest 
date  that  it  can  be  safely  done." 


1 40         Protestant  Foreign  Missions 

to  settle  down  among  them,  but  ever  to  strive  onwards 
to  extended  missionary  enterprise.  Only  thus  will 
a  missionary  spirit  be  breathed  into  the  Church  and 
maintained  there. 

Such  aims,  steadily  and  continually  kept  in  view, 
will  hring  to  the  missionary  funds  at  home  the  neces- 
sary relief.  The  salaries  of  tlie  missionaries,  and 
sums  necessary  for  building  purposes,  constitute  the 
cliief  items  in  the  expenses  of  individual  stations. 
If  the  agents  be  mostly  Europeans,  buildings  are 
raised  for  Europeans ; — on  account  of  their  health, 
more  solid  and  costly  than  they  would  have  been 
for  natives.  The  whole  expense  falls  thus  on  the 
Church  at  home,  whicli  supports  the  European  mis- 
sionary. If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  training  of 
native  labourers  and  the  formation  of  a  nucleus 
congregation  be  the  aim  which  the  missionary  has 
set*  before  him  from  the  first,  then  the  erecting  of 
buildings,  which  in  time  are  to  be  inliabited  by 
natives,  will  be  the  duty  of  the  members  of  the 
mission  Church  themselves.*  This  is  tlie  case  in 
English  and  ximerican  missions  to  a  mucli  greater 
extent  than  in  German ;  but  with  the  latter,  too, 
the  system  must  be  adopted.      It  is  wrong — I  am 

*  An  opinion  may  be  formed  of  how  dilferent  are  the  requirements 
for  native  and  European  Cliristians,  liy  tlic  fact  that,  in  South 
Afrira,  a  cliapel  ■\vliich  holds  only  60  Europeans,  is  large  enough 
to  contain  2cx)  natives  ;  see  Wesleyan  Missionary  Notices,  Septem- 
ber 1879,  p.  216. 


Their  Present  Si  ate.  1 4  r 

here  but  expressing  the  opinions  of  competent  judges 
— it  is  too  much  to  expect  of  the  Church  at  home  that 
she  should,  unaided,  or  rery  nearly  so,  build  chajMls 
for  negro  congregations  and  houses  for  negro  pastors 
and  teachers.  As  these  coloured  communities  build 
their  own  dwellings,  so  they  must  be  taught  to 
build  their  places  of  worship  and  their  pastors' 
houses — with  their  own  hand  and  simply;  and  the 
less  those  that  labour  among  them  have  been  Euro- 
peanised,  the  more  easily  wdll  this  be  accomplished. 

We  conclude  then :  the  principal  work  must  be 
done  by  the  natives  themselves,  although  it  may 
have  to  be  under  the  superintendence  and  direction 
of  missionaries.  The  question  of  how  the  training 
of  native  agents  is  to  be  conducted,  is  one  all  im- 
portant. As  already  they  have  done  in  the  South 
Seas,*  so  in  Africa,  under  suitable  direction,  will 
native  agents  prove  themselves  more  successful 
pioneers  than  Europeans.  No  doubt,  coloured  con- 
gregations may  he  prematurely  declared  to  he  inde- 
pendent Mistakes  may  be  made  in  this  particular 
point,  as  perhaps  they  have  been  by  the  mother 
Church,  in  throwing  on  the  native  Churches  the 
burden  of  collections  wdiich  are  wont  to  be  made 
at   home.-j-      But   the    Churches   in   Germany   and 


*  See  London  Missionary  Society's  Report,  1879,  p.  60. 
t  Cf.  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,   1S78,  p.  386  ;   1879,  p. 
[86. 


142         P 7^0 tcs taut  Foreig)i  Missions  : 

Holland  advance  too  slowly,  too  timorously;  their 
stations  are,  in  the  mcdter  of  independence^  too  far 
behind.  The  missionaries  of  the  State  Churches,  for 
the  reason  above  specified,  set  it  too  little  before 
them  as  an  end;  they  must,  therefore,  be  reminded 
that  the  aim  of  a  heathen  Cliristian  Church  is,  to 
attain  that  which  the  xVmericans  and  English*  sum 
up  in  the  three  words,  self-support,  self-government, 
self-extension. 

In  passing  now  to  Protestant  missions 

II.  Among  Civilised  Peoples 
We  shall  consider,  in  order,  the  lands  of  Islam, 
India,  China,  and  Japan.  Here,  where  Christian- 
ity encounters  fully-developed  religious  systems, 
precepts,  and  doctrines,  which  influence  all  life, 
political  and  social,  making  it  the  more  or  less  in- 
accessible citadel  of  all  non-Christian  tenets  and 
manners ;  wdiere  a  foreign  civilisation,  or  partial 
civilisation,  with  its  own  religious,  philosophical, 
and  general  literature,  sways,  as  by  a  spiritual  force, 
the  lives  of  peoples,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  sub- 
stance and  power  of  Christianity,  the  dijicidties  of 
mission  ivork  are  imquestionahly  at  their  greatest; 
and  therefore,  if  we  except  times  quite  recent,  the 
success  of  tlie  Gospel  has  been  comparatively  small. 

*  Soo,  too,   the  Church  Missionary  Society,    "A  IJricf  View  of 
tlie  Principles, "  &,c.,  1877,  p.  19. 


Their  Present  State.  143 

But  here,  also,  when  once,  by  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tian enlightenment,  popular  misconceptions  have 
been  dispelled,  as  is  now  the  case  in  many  circles, 
we  may  hope  that  results  will  be  proportionately 
greater. 

In  the  LANDS  OF  Islam,  as  far  as  the  Turkish 
Empire  is  concerned,  the  largest  part  of  Protestant 
mission  work  is  carried  on  by  the  American  Board 
and  by  the  American  Presbyterians.  After  years 
of  difficulties  experienced  in  gaining  access  to  this 
country,  and  of  preliminary  work,  a  more  hopeful 
era  has  been  entered  upon  since  i860.*  Endea- 
vours have  been  directed,  for  the  most  part,  to  the 
revival  of  the  Oriental  Church.  And  this  partly 
for  the  sake  of  that  Church  itself,  partly  because  its, 
up  till  now,  almost  petrified  condition  has  so  lowered 
Christianity  in  the  estimation  of  Mohammedans, 
that  only  by  her  regeneration  can  access  ever 
be  gained  to  their  hearts;  and  partly,  and  more 
especially,  because  Turkish  law  rendered,  and  still 
does  render,  all  attempts  to  exercise  a  direct  influ- 
ence on  the  followers  of  Islam  as  good  as  impossible. 
After  the  Crimean  war,  it  is  said,  the  Sultan  was 
compelled  to  proclaim  religious  liberty  in  all  his 
dominions,  and  wonder  is    often  expressed   at   the 

*  Cf.  for  what  follows,  the  treatise  of  Dr.  Clark  (American 
Board),  ''The  Gospel  in  the  Ottoman  Empire,"  1878,  p.  7,  sqq^. 
Printed  also  in  the  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  107,  sqq. 


144        Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

want  of  success  attendincf  Christian  missions  among: 
tlie  Mohammedans.  It  is  a  pity,  only,  that  our  con- 
ceptions of  religious  freedom  are  so  different  from 
those  entertained  by  the  Turks.  Eeligious  freedom 
in  this  sense,  that  every  man  is  at  liberty  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  religion  in  which  he  was  born, 
they  have  granted,  and  that  since  the  time  of  their 
prophet.  But  liberty  as  we  understand  it — the 
equal  enjoyment  of  legal  rights  by  both  Christians 
and  Mohammedans,  and  the  power  of  secession  from 
Islam  to  Christianity — that,  the  Sultan  has  no  power 
to  grant,  for  it  is  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  in- 
junctions of  the  Koran.*  Liberty  to  make  prose- 
lytes from  the  Turkish  State  religion  has  never  been, 
and  never  was  intended  to  be  granted,  as  the  recent 
diplomatic  negotiations  have  made  abundantly  evi- 
dent,-]- Nor  is  it  ever  to  be  expected  as  long  as  the 
Sultan  remains  the  spiritual  head,  the  Calif  of  Islam. 
And  it  need  excite  no  surprise  if  in  the  Turkish  em- 
pire, where  conversion  to  Christianity  is  attended 
with  danger  to  life,  the  number  of  native  Christians 
is  limited  to  three  in  Constantinople,  three  in  Cairo, 
and  three  in  Jerusalem.  J 

*  See  the  clear  rendering  of  the  case  in  the  speech  of  missionary 
Hughes,  Mildinay  Conference,  p.  325,  sqq. 

t  See  the  letter  of  Sir  Henry  Eliot  in  the  Jilue  Book,  1S75,  re- 
ferred to  by  Hughes. 

X  Hughes  (see  above),  p.  327.  Probulily  lliis  refers  to  the  heads 
of  families. 


Their  Present  State.  145 

The  impossibility  of  introducing  reforms  into  the 
Oriental  Church  soon  led  to  the  founding  of  inde- 
pendent Protestant  congregations.  The  number  of 
these  is  now  not  inconsiderable,  and  their  moral  and 
religious  influence  is  sensibly  extending  in  all  direc- 
tions. 

Thus  in  Egyi:)t,  The  principal  field  of  labour  here 
is  among  the  Kopts,  among  whom,  as  also  among  the 
Syrian  Christians,  Jews, and  Mohammedans,  the  Ame- 
rican United  Presbyterian  mission  has  for  twenty- 
five  years  been  labouring  with  ever-growing  success. 
From  Alexandria  and  Cairo,  and  up  along  the 
banks  of  the  Nile  to  Nubia,  this  body  now  has  6 
organised  churches,  with  elders  and  deacons,  28  out- 
lying stations,  where  regular  service  is  held,  850 
communicants,  and  about  1800  adherents.*  It  lias 
8  missionaries  and  6  American  female  teachers, 
who  are  assisted  by  4  native  pastors,  7  licensed 
preachers,  and  70  native  evangelists.  These  as  yet 
young  congregations  contribute  ;^iooo  yearly  for 
missionary  purposes.  They  have  30  day-schools, 
with  1424  scholars;  among  these  are  (as  in  Cairo) 
50  Mohammedan  boys  and  70  Mohammedan  girls.  In 
the  theological  seminary  in  Osiut  1 1  young  men  are 
being  trained  as  preachers.  The  English  mission,  which 
here  has  only  one  agent  and  several  native  teachers, 

*  According  to  the  account  of  Dr.  AVatson,  Mildmay  Conference, 
March  1878,  p.  341,  sq(i. 

K 


46         ProtestcDLt  Foreign  Mi 


ssio/is 


limits  its  operations  to  the  carrying  on  of  schools  for 
boys  and  girls  in  Cairo  (300  boys  and  200  girls)  and 
in  Damietta.  It  is  aided  by  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  the  Bible  colportage,  and  regular  divine 
service  in  Cairo.*  In  1877  the  Americans  had  the 
joy  of  making  in  Cairo  three  converts  from  Islamism 
(see  above). 

In  the  lands  of  Turkey  prpocr,  we  find  no  less 
than  17  Protestant  missionary  societies  and  associa- 
tions at  work.  Of  these  by  far  the  most  extensive 
— although  it  handed  over,  in  1 870,  the  greater  part 
of  Syria  to  tlie  care  of  the  American  Presbyterians 
— is  the  American  Board,  which  conducts  operations 
among  the  Armenians  and  Greeks,  &c.  It  embraces, 
within  the  area  of  its  labours — divided  into  west,  east, 
and  central  districts — all  Asia  Minor,  from  Bulgaria 
at  the  Balkans,  Eski-Sagra,  Simakou,  &c.,  to  the 
Tigris  in  Babylonia.  Here  has  been  founded,  in  the 
midst  of  the  lifeless  ancient  Churches,  a  new  Pro- 
testant Oriental  CJiurcli,  which  now  ministers  to  92 
congregations,  witli  about  6000  communicants,  300 
day-schools,  with  upwards  of  1 1 ,000  scholars,  20 
colleges,  seminaries,  and  Iligli  Schools,  witli  about 
800  scliolars  and  285  preaching  stations.  In  these 
are  employed    132  Americans,  professors,  mission- 


*  Sec  the  missioiiaiy  Mr.  Wliatdy's  Ucj)or(.  Mildinny  Conference, 


Their  Present  State.  147 

aries,  female  teachers,  with  more  than  500  native 
preachers  and  teachers.* 

In  the  western  province  (Constantinople  with  its 
Eobert  College,  a  university  with  about  230  students 
of  twelve  different  nationalities — accordingly  instruc- 
tion is  given  in  the  English  language  — Brusa,  Marsi- 
wan,  with  a  theological  seminary,  C8esarea,&c.)  we  find 
30  churches  (not  including  those  in  Bulgaria),  with 
upwards  of  1500  adult  members  ;  in  Central  Turkey 
(Marash,  with  a  theological  seminary,  Ain-tab,  &c.), 
26  churches,  with  2600  members ;  in  the  east  (Harput, 
with  a  theological  seminary,  Erzeroom,  Van,  &c.),  33 
churches,  with  upwards  of  1 800  full  members.  These 
churches  have  a  half-Congregational,  half -Presby- 
terian constitution,  based  on  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  and  divided  into  Protestant  provincial 
synods.  Many  of  the  congregations  have  for  a  long 
time  been  self-supporting.  As  regards  the  abilities 
of  the  native  preachers,  this  circumstance  only  need 
be  mentioned,  that  one  of  them  has  been  called 
"  the  Spurgeon  of  the  Church."  -f- 

In  Syria,  Protestant  missionaries  are  devoting  their 
energies  chiefly  to  school  work,  although  there  are  here 
also  one  or  two  small  churches.   We  have — the  British 

*  According  to  the  treatise  of  Dr.  Jessup  (Beyroiit)  at  the  meeting 
of  ARiance  in  New  York,  p.  641,  sqq.;  cf.  Report  of  American  Board, 
1878,  p.  40,  sqq.,  Chirk  (see  above). 

+  According  to  Dr.  Bliss  (Constantinople),  Mildmay  Conference, 
!'•  363- 


148         Protestant  Foreign  Jllissions: 

Syrian  Schools  and  Bible  Mission,  the  Lebanon  School 
Committee  (in  connection  with  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland,  which  is  studding  that  mountain  range  ever 
more  thickly  witli  schools),  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  the  Irish  I'resbyterian,  the  Quaker  Mission, 
the  American  United  Presbyterians,  and  particularly 
the  Board  of  Foreign  IMissions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  America, — all  at  work.  The  terrible 
events  of  i860  on  Mount  Lebanon  brouMit  the  mis- 
sionary  work  there  into  special  prominence.  The 
labours  of  the  first-mentioned  society  w^ere  begun  by 
]\Irs.  Thompson,  who,  after  only  nine  years'  labour, 
left  behind  her  23  schools  attended  by  1700  chil- 
dren. In  these  schools  the  children  of  murderers 
and  murdered  are  to  be  found,  receiving  instruction 
side  by  side — a  state  of  matters  which  contributes 
greatly  to  the  maintenance  of  a  peaceful  spirit. 
"  ]\Lidam,"  said  an  enlightened  Mohammedan  pasha, 
at  the  sight  of  these  children,  "  such  schools  as  yours, 
where  you  admit  all  sects,  will  make  another  mas- 
sacre impossible."  *  The  number  of  the  British- 
Syrian  schools  now  amounts  to  30,  attended  by  3000 
children  ;  ^vhile  the  total  of  all  Protestant  schools 
in  Syria  proper  (between  Antioch  and  Nazareth, 
exclusive  of  the  rest  of  Palestine)  is  184,  with  341 
teachers   and    10,585    scholars;   4782    are   girls,  of 

*   Report  by  Mrs.   Tlioinpson's  sister,  Mildiiiay  Conference,  p. 
355=  •"77- 


Their  Present  State.  149 

whom  1000  are  Mohammedans.*  About  300  or  400 
Turkish  women,  too,  receive  Bible  instruction  every 
Sunday  in  the  British- Syrian  schools.  In  Beyrout — ■ 
where  the  American  Presbyterians  in  the  Syrian  Pro- 
testant College  have  a  High  School — with  Arabic  as 
the  language  employed  for  instruction  (now,  however, 
chiefly  English  f) — for  the  study  of  medicine  as  well 
— there  are  nearly  9000  children  in  the  different 
schools ;  of  these  3000  belonging  to  the  Protestant 
Institute.  Twenty  years  ago,  hardly  300  children 
attended  school  here.  Of  the  12  printing  presses  in 
the  town,  5  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Protestants ;  and 
of  the  9  newspapers,  6.  Besides  Beyrout,  the  Ameri- 
can Presbyterians  have  taken  up  Abeih,  Sidon,  Tripoli, 
and  Zahle,  where  they  have  founded  5  stations 
with  66  preaching  stations,  under  12  missionaries, 
3  native  pastors,  127  native  teachers  and  evangelists, 
12  congregations  with  716  communicants,  and  45 
Sunday-schools  with  1895  scholars.| 

And  Palestine  ? 

Alas,  that  this  land  also  must  be  included  among 
the  fields  of  missionary  labour !     This  land,  beloved 


*  According  to  Dr.  Jessup's  account,  Mildmay  Conference,  jx 
366,  and  the  Missionary  Herald,  February  1879,  p.  52,  sqri. 

t  With  regard  to  the  ever- increasing  influence  of  England,  see 
Report  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  1879,  p.  36. 

X  Ibid.,  p.  33,  S22.,  "  The  Work  of  the  English  Press  at  BejTOUt," 
see  p.  38. 


1 50         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

as  no  other,  wept  for  as  none,  longed,  hoped  for  as 
none ;  the  land  of  promise,  the  apple  of  the  eye 
of  God  and  man,  the  cradle  of  truth  and  freedom  ! 
Fain  would  we  think  of  her  as  a  garden  of  G^od,  with 
angels  ascending  and  descending,  as  of  old !  But 
on  that  day  when  she  pressed  the  crown  of  thorns 
on  the  head  of  Him  who  alone  was  innocent,  the 
crown  fell  from  the  head  of  her  who  once  sat  a 
queen  among  lands.  Here  there  is  read  aloud  the 
lesson,  for  the  stones  cry  out,  and  the  ruins  bear 
witness,  of  what  God  has  done  in  mercy  and  judg- 
ment. But  the  inhabitants,  Turks  and  Jews,  and 
alas !  Christians  too,  will  not  understand  it.  The 
messengers  of  the  Gospel  must  come  from  afar  to 
interpret  the  language  of  these  ruins,  and  proclaim 
alike  to  Jewish  unbelief  and  Christian  idolatry,  that 
God  must  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
that  the  despised,  long-rejected  Lord  may  again  be 
made  possessor  of  His  inheritance.  Yes,  a  land  of 
missions,  but  a  barren  one,  amidst  the  marvellous 
divisions  of  its  many  Christian  and  non-Christian 
parties  and  sects;  tilled  by  many  missionary  societies 
but  yielding  little  fruit.  Here  we  find  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  now  increasing  its  forces,  with 
six  stations ;  Jerusalem,  with  a  small  Arabian  Pro- 
testant congregation,  besides  the  English  and  Ger- 
man   ones;    Xazareth,   with    a    Protestant    church 


Their  Present  State,  1 5 1 

of  420  members,  composed  chiefly  of  Greeks ;  * 
Jaffa,  ISTablous,  now  too  Gaza,  Es  Salt,  on  the  other 
side  of  Jordan,  &c.,  with  1108  native  Christians 
and  21  schools  with  751  scholars ;-[-  the  London 
Jewish  mission,  and  the  mission  schools  of  the 
late  Bishop  Gobat,  which  have  been  handed  over 
almost  entirely  to  the  Church  Missionary  Society. 
German  societies,  too,  are  here  at  work,  as  the  Jeru- 
salem Association  of  Berlin,  the  Crischona  mission, 
the  deaconesses  from  Kaiserswerth  (in  Asia  Minor 
and  Egypt),  engaged  more  specially  in  educational 
and  philanthropic  institutions.  In  the  ancient 
Ramoth  Gilead  (Es  Salt)  there  has  been  formed 
recently  a  church  of  Bedouins,  and  many  of  the 
villages  around  are  begging  that  schoolmasters  may 
be  sent  them. 

Casting  now  a  glance  at  Persia,  we  see  there, 
on  both  the  hither  and  the  farther  sides  of  the 
frontier,  a  cheering  fruit  of  Protestant  missionary 
w^ork  in  the  lands  of  Islam,  in  the  Nestorian  Church, 
which  has  been  resuscitated  by  the  American  Board 
and  (since  1871)  by  the  American  Presbyterians. 
Connected  with  this  Church  there  are  now  from 
12,000  to  15,000  persons,  all  under  the  influence 
of   evangelical  preaching,  while   1152   of   these  are 

*  Report  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  1878,  p.  63. 
t  Abstract  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  Report,  1879,  p.  9; 
Calw.  Mission.  Magazin.,  1879,  p.  48. 


1 5  2         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

full  members  of  the  Eeformed  Nestorian  CLurch. 
The  chief  stations  are  Orumiah  aud  Seir.  It  em- 
ploys 1 8  ordained  native  pastors,  45  preachers,  99 
teachers  and  other  assistants,  \vho  are  enG^acjed  in 
I  ublishing  the  Gospel  in  96  preaching  stations.  Of 
the  old  cliurches  as  many  as  23  are  used  by  Pro- 
testant congregations,  which  now  have  a  constitu- 
tion with  presbyteries  and  synods.  There  are  Z'j 
day-schools  with  1643  scholars;  whilst  33  young 
mm  are  in  training  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.* 
Among  the  Persians  themselves  Protestant  missions 
seem  to  be  gaining  a  firmer  hold,  and  to  find  access 
more  easily  among  the  Mohammedans,  under  the 
more  tolerant  form  of  Islamism  here  prevalent. 
In  Tabreez,  Teheran,  and  Plamadan  the  American 
Presbyterians  have  stations  and  small  churches,  with 
from  20  to  30  members,  besides  several  schools. 
In  Ispahan  the  Church  Missionary  Society  has  a 
missionary  (soon  it  will  have  a  medical  missionary), 
along  with  9  native  teachers,  170  members,  2  schools, 
and  181  scholars.  No  doubt  the  great  proportion 
of  these  are  native  Christians,  but  many  Moham- 
medans, too,  are  beginning  to  intpiire  after  tlie  way 
of  salvation. f 


*  See  Evangel.  Mission.  M.agazin.,  1872,  p.  31,  .'?'?7.;  Report  of  the 
American  Presbyterian  Missions,  1879,  p.  42,  sqq. 

t  Abstract  of  tlie  Cliurcli  Missionary  Society's  Report,  1879,  p.  9  ; 
Report  of  American  Presbyterian  Mission,  1S79,  p.  47,  sqq. 


Their  Present  State.  153 

But  the  most  fruitful — it  may  here  be  added — of 
all,  has  been  the  Moslem  mission  in  some  of  the 
districts  of  India,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  central 
provinces  of  the  Punjaub.  Many  of  the  very  best 
native  Christians  in  the  mission  stations  are  con- 
verts from  Islamism.  In  Northern  India  these  may 
number  about  300,*  among  whom  there  are  not 
only  several  personages  of  distinction — magistrates 
• — but  many  well-known  and  able  evangelists  and 
ordained  preachers.  Elsewhere,  as  in  Calcutta, 
Madras,  and  Bombay,  the  conversion  of  a  Moham- 
medan is  still  looked  upon  as  a  miracle.  Into 
Afghanistan,  that  country  which,  in  recent  times 
has  been  brought  so  prominently  into  the  light  of 
modern  history,  the  Gospel  has  advanced,  not  with- 
out success,  chiefly  through  the  agency  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society.  In  Peshawur,  the  basis 
of  operations,  there  is  a  Church  of  some  ninety  con- 
verted Mohammedans  in  connection  with  the  Church 
Missionary  Society.-|-  Even  before  the  war  several 
stations  had  been  founded  and  a  medical  missionary 
summoned  thither. |  The  Afghans  possess  a  good 
translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  now  a  Chris- 
tian Pushtu  literature  is  growing  up.    As  far  as  Cash- 


*  According  to  the  missionary  Mr.  Hughes  of  Peshawur,  ]\Iildmay 
Conference,  p.  328,  sqq. 

t  See  Miklmay  Conference,  p.  385. 
+  Hughes  (see  above),  p.  345. 


154         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

mere,  in  the  persons  of  several  medical  missionaries, 
some  rays  of  the  Gospel  have  already  penetrated. 

On  account  of  the  growing  decay  of  its  political 
influence — as  the  missionaries  testify — many  cul- 
tivated Mohammedans  are  beginning  to  lose  con 
fidence  in  the  future  of  Islamism,  although  from 
prudential  considerations  they  do  not  openly 
express  their  convictions.*  Mohammedanism  is 
essentially  a  political  system.  Only  when  its  ad- 
herents cease  to  form  a  political  body  can  the 
struggle  between  Bible  and  Koran  be  conducted  on 
equal  terms.  And  for  the  combat  the  weapons  are 
ready.  The  translcttion  of  the  Bible  into  Arabic  (com- 
pleted in  1865),  the  sacred  language  common  to 
all  Mohammedans,  is  understood  everywhere,  and 
has  been  widely  circulated  by  the  British  and 
American  Bible  Societies,  from  Tunis  and  Morocco, 
throughout  all  Xorth  Africa,  and  far  up  tlie  Nile; 
from  Constantinople,  Asia  Minor,  and  Syria,  into 
the  north-west  provinces  of  Cliina,  where  there  are 
several  millions  of  Mohammedans.  Even  the  Sheiks, 
on  tlie  coast  of  Arabia  nnd  East  Africa,  accept  it 
willi  the  utmost  readiness.f 

*  According  to  accounts  by  the  mission  secretary,  Mr.  Jenkins, 
Mildinay  Conference,  p.  164,  sqq.  Many  English  missionaries  in 
the  Punjaub,  as  lately  one  of  them  tohl  me,  consider  Ilindooisni 
as  a  "far  greater  and  more  serious  masterpiece  of  Satan"  than 
Islam. 

t  According  to  Dr.  Jessup,  Milduiay  Conference,  p.  364,  sqq. 


Their  Present  State,  1 5  5 

.  In  the  other  principal  languages  of  the  Turkish 
empire, Turkish,  Armenian,  Bulgarian,  Syrian,  modern 
Greek,  Kurd,  Persian,  &c.,*  the  Bible  has  been  tran- 
slated partly  in  whole,  partly  the  New  Testament 
only.  Though  the  Gospel  has  never  as  yet  been 
preached  in  open  assemblies  to  the  Turks  en  masse 
still  the  latter  come  everywhere  in  small  groups  to 
hear  it  proclaimed.-|-  Hence  it  has  become  a  rule, 
e.g.,  in  the  American  mission,  to  hold  one  service 
every  Sunday  in  the  Turkish  language. 

And  the  leaven  is  w^orking.  There  is  hardly  a 
district,  town,  or  village  of  any  size  in  Asiatic 
Turkey,  where  at  least  one  copy  of  the  Bible  is 
not  to  be  found.|  The  publications  of  the  Protestant 
missionary  press  are  more  numerous  than  those  of 
any  other  in  Turkish  Asia.  And,  what  is  most 
encouraging,  the  siq^icriority  of  the  Protestant  religion 
over  that  of  those  Churches  which  worship  pictures, 
is  being  ever  more  universally  acknowledged  ly  the 
Mohammedans,  In  presence  of  Protestantism,  the 
Turkish  contempt  for  Christianity  is  beginning  to 
give  way.     By  the  self-sacrificing  labours  of  love  of 


*  See  Dr.  Jessup,  Meeting  of  the  New  York  Alliance,  p.  640, 
sqq. 

t  Cf.  e.g.,  the  account  of  the  consecration  of  the  beautiful  new 
church  in  Csesarea  ;  Missionary  Herald,  Boston,  February  1879, 
p.  60. 

X  According  to  accounts  of  Dr.  Bliss,  Mildmay  Conference,  p. 
631,  sqq. 


156         Protestant  Foreign  Alissions  : 

the  American  missionaries,  male  and  female,  during 
the  lUisso-Turkish  war  in  Europe  and  Asia  Minor, 
the  confidence  of  the  natives  in  many  places  in  the 
Protestant  missions  has  been  won.  The  lies  and 
slanders  of  bigoted  priests  and  monks  have  been 
shown  to  be  unfounded,  and  nuiny  doors,  formerly 
shut,  have  been  flung  open.  Expressions  in  the 
mouth  of  the  people  like,  "  Protestants  do  not  tell 
lies,"  "  Protestants  may  be  trusted,"  heard,  as  they 
may  be,  np  among  tlie  mountains  of  the  uncivilised 
Kurds — where,  not  long  ago,  a  robber,  on  learning 
that  his  victim  was  a  Protestant,  immediately  re- 
stored his  booty,  saying,  "  You  I  can  believe ;  you 
are  a  Protestant !  "  * — these  testify,  more  clearly 
than  all  else,  to  tlic  groiviwj  moral  injlucnce  of  the 
Protestant  missionary  Church.  Especially  is  this  to 
be  seen  with  respect  to  the  enslaved  female  popu- 
lation. The  moral  and  social  liberation  of  women, 
which  is  making  gradual  progress  by  means  of 
Christian  teaching  in  schools  and  Lible  classes,  and 
indeed  in  a  whole  array  of  higher  institutions, -f  is  a 
fruit  of  missions,  of  importance  enough  to  justify 
all  the  efforts  hitherto  expended.     Besides,  we  have 


*  Accordin;:^  to  Clark,  "The  Gospel  in  the  Ottomaii  iMiipire," 
p.  9. 

t  In  Constantinople,  Siniakou,  IJrnsa,  JManisa,  ]\Iarsiwan, 
Ain-tab,  Marash,  Ilarput,  Mardin,  the  American  Board  has  such 
institutions.     See  Clark,  p.  8,  sqq. 


Their  Present  State.  1 5  7 

in  medical  missions,  as  is  becoinini:^  always  clearer, 
one  of  the  principal  keys  to  tlie  houses  of  the 
Mohammedans,  who  at  least  recognise  Jesus  as  the 
great  Helper  and  Healer.  This  branch  of  the  work 
has  proved  itself  of  particular  value  in  the  lands  of 
Islam.* 

Protestant  missions  are  in  a  better  position  now 
than  ever  they  were  for  extending  the  area  of  their 
work,  not  simply  among  Oriental  Christians,  but 
among  Mohammedans.  The  collapse  of  the  political 
power  of  the  Ottoman  empire,  the  palpable  state  of 
bankruptcy  to  which  an  indolent  inward  adminis- 
tration has  reduced  it,  the  decrease  of  prejudice 
entertained  ai^ainst  Protestantism,  and  the  OTOwinf]^ 
influence  of  the  Gospel  leaven,  all  warrant  us  in  look- 
ing upon  Moslem  missions  as  no  longer  a  hopeless 
task — and  this  in  spite  of  all  restrictions  and 
hindrances,  and  w^ith  full  recognition  of  the  truth 
openly  acknowledged  by  missionaries,-|-  that  hitherto 
they  have  underrated  this  opponent,  who  even  now 
is  making  considerable  propaganda.^  It  cannot 
yet  be  predicted   what   influence   the   contact,  not 


*  See  Medical  Missions,  October  1878,  p.  29  ;  Hughes  (see 
above),  p.  332. 

t  See  Hugbes,  p.  330. 

X  E.g.,  the  AVahabis  in  Arabia,  and  the  disciples  of  the  fanatical 
Saiyid  Ahmed  in  India,  and  specially  the  Mohammedan  propa- 
ganda in  the  western  pro\ances  of  China.  See  Evangel.  Mission. 
Magazin.,  1874,  p.  77,  sqq. 


158         Protcsta7it  Foreign  Missions: 

of  small  liandfuls  of  scattered  Protes  bants,  but  of 
whole  Protestant  territories,  will  have  on  the  neigh- 
bouring Mohammedans,  as  in  Armenia,  and  Persia, 
in  India,  Sumatra  (Sinkel  district),  &c. 

With  India  we  enter  on  the  chief  field  of  mis- 
sionary labour,  where  from  all  sides  a  concentra- 
tion of  forces,  the  most  numerous  and  the  best,  is 
taking  place,  for  a  general  attack  on  that  great  strong- 
hold of  darkness — Hindooism.  Now  that  whole 
races  of  people  and  systems  of  territory  have  passed 
out  of  the  hands  of  a  Company  hostile  to  missions, 
into  the  power  of  the  British  Crown,  there  is  scope 
for  greater  freedom  of  action.  In  India  earnest  work 
is  being  carried  on  by  28  Protestant  missionary  socie- 
ties, including  all  the  greatest  of  them  nearly  without 
exception.  There  are  about  600  ordained  European 
and  American  missionaries,  occuj^ying  at  least  430 
central  stations.  A  goodly  number,  and  yet  how 
small  when  it  is  considered  that  for  every  million 
inhabitants  there  are  only  two  missionaries !  The 
f(jllowing  figures  will  give  a  definite  idea  of  what 
tlie  progress  of  Indian  missions  has  been  witliin  tlie 
last  twenty  or  thirty  years : — 

There  were  in  Pritish  India  (including  Purmali  and 
Ceylon),  in — 

1S52:  22,400  coimmiiiicants,  128,000  native  Chri.stiaiis, 

y(»iiiig  and  old ; 
1S62:  49,681  coinniunicants.  or  213,182  Christians; 


Their  Present  State,  159 

1872  :  78,494  commimicants,  or  318,363  Christians. 
Ill  1878  the  latter  figures  rose  to  460,000.* 

If  we  take  now  only  India  proper,  the  increase  of 
native  Protestant  Christians  was — 

1851-61     ....     53  per  cent. 
1861-71     .  .  .  .61  per  cent. 

(from  138,731  to  224,258  Chris tians),-(- and  during  the 
last  ten  years  it  will  have  been  much  greater.  \ 

Examining  the  share  which  each  of  the  societies 
has  had  in  this  increase,  we  find  that  the  five  Luth- 
eran societies  at  work  in  India — that  of  Leipzig,  the 
Gossner,the  Danish, Hermannsburg,  and  the  American 
Lutheran — have  since  1850  risen  in  membership  from 
3316  to  about  42,000  Christians;  the  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Societies,  two  American  and  one  English, 
from  30,000  to  90,000  (including  Burmah) ;  the  Basel 
mission  in  India,  from  1000  to  6805  ;§  the  ten  Pres- 
byterian missions  of  Scotland,  England,  Ireland,  and 
America,  from  800  to  10,000  ;  and  similarly  the  two 
societies  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  from  America 

*  See  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1874,  p.  85,  Church  Miss. 
Intell.,  1878,  jx  537,  and  Mildmay  Conference,  1878,  p.  120,  sf^?. 

t  Cf.  Evang.  Miss.-Mag.,  1873,  p.  255  ;  Chronicle  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  1874,  p.  46,  599.  The  difference  between  the 
numbers  given  above  arises  from  the  omission  of  Further  India. 

X  It  has  been  calculated  that,  at  this  rate  of  progression,  there 
should  be,  about  the  year  1901,  upwards  of  a  million,  and  in  the 
year  2000,  about  1 38  millions,  of  Protestant  Christians  in  India. 

§  Heidenbote,  August  1879,  p.  59. 


1 60         Protestant  Foreio;n  Missions  : 


i> 


and  England,  which  liave  been  employed  in  India  for 
a  short  time ;  the  London  IMissionaiy  Society,  from 
20,000  to  npwards  of  48,000 ;  the  Church  Mission- 
ary Society  and  the  Propagation  Society  together, 
from  61,442  to  upwards  of  164,000.*  To  these 
must  be  added  several  smaller  and  many  private 
missions,  which  in  India  are  specially  numerous. 

In  some  places  progress  has  been  exceptionally 
rapid,  and  at  the  same  time  intermittent ;  first  very 
little,  then  suddenly  very  abundant  fruit.  ISTowhere 
has  development  taken  place  so  much  ly  louncls  as  in 
many  of  the  Indian  missions.  In  Cuddapah,  e.g. 
(Telugu  territory),  the  London  and  the  Propagation 
Society  laboured  side  by  side  for  thirty  years  without 
making  more  than  200  converts.  Then,  all  of  a 
sudden,  there  came  a  revival  among  the  non-caste 
population,  and  the  200  became  nearly  1 1,000. 

What  a  hard  soil  has,  during  twenty-seven  years, 
South  Mahratta  been  for  the  Basel  missionaries — so 
fruitless,  that  many  thought  seriously  on  retirement 
from  this  territory.  Now,  of  a  sudden,  fat  years  of 
harvest  have  followed  on  the  lean,  and  the  number 
of  Christians  in  the  Basel  stations  has  risen  to  up- 
wards of  1000. 

How  diri'crent  has  Ijeen  the  history  of  the  Gossner 
mission  among  the  Kolhs  !     After  five  years'  waiting, 


*  According  to  Sherriiig,  Mildinay  Conference,  p.  121,  tqq. 


Their  Present  State,  1 6 1 

its  missionaries  baptized  the  first  converts  in  1850, 
and  since  then  the  number  has  steadily  increased 
from  year  to  year : — 

i860  ....         1400  Christians ; 

1870          .  .  ,  over  12,000 ; 

and  now,  in  the  German  and  English  stations  together, 
there  are  about  40,000  baptized  converts. 

The,  increase  of  new  converts  which  has  taken  place 
within  the  last  tivo  years  has  been  unparalleled  in 
the  history  of  Indian  missions.  And  this  forms  the 
most  prominent  feature  in  the  present  condition  of 
mission  work  in  India.  The  previous  famine,  to 
which  the  inhabitants  of  Southern  India  were  sub- 
jected*— the  practical  experience  multitudes  then 
made  of  the  helplessness  of  their  gods — the  actual 
proof  of  the  absolute  superiority  of  Christian  pity 
to  heathen  selfishness,  which  they  had  daily  before 
their  eyes  in  the  relief  afforded  by  the  government, 
the  Christians  in  England,  and  the  various  missionary 
societies — the  glaring  contrast  between  heartless  hea- 
then priests  and  the  missionaries  who  spent  them- 
selves in  ministering  to  the  hungry,  united  with  the 
effect  produced  by  much  missionary  labour,  which  in 
Southern  India  had  been  more  actively  prosecuted  than 


*  According  to  the  "  Times,"  there  perished  in  the  presidency  of 
Madras  3,000,000  of  persons;  in  Mysore,  1,250,000  ;  in  Bombay, 
1,000,000.  ;£"8,ooo,ooo  were  sent  from  England  to  give  relief  to 
the  sufferers. 

L 


1 62         Protestant  Foi'eio-n  Missions  : 

elsewhere  by  preachers  and  teachers, — these  were 
the  visible  means  in  the  Divine  Hand  of  enabling 
thousands  and  thousands  of  heathen,  for  the  first 
time,  to  perceive  the  divineness  of  Christianity,* 
and  of  causing  them  to  long  for  light  and  salva- 
tion. The  Basel  Society  reaped  a  harvest  such  as  it 
never  had  done  before,  increasing  in  1 877  by  1076,  and 
in  I  %yZ  by  'j6'^  souls.-t*  So  also  the  Leipzic  Society 
(1878,  1639  heathen  baptized,  i.e.,  nearly  double  as 
many  as  in  1877) ;  and,  indeed,  the  same  was  the  case 
with  almost  all  the  societies  at  work  in  Southern 
India.  But  the  following  cases  are  quite  unex- 
ampled : — The  American  Baptists  in  IN'ellore,  within 
six  weeks  J  (June  16  to  July  31,  1878)  baptized 
8691  heathen.  In  the  Tinnevelly  district,  where  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  carries  on  operations, 
1 1,000  heathen  'applied,  in  1878,  to  Bishop  Saegent 
and  the  native  clergy  §  for  instruction,  with  a  view 
to  baptism.  In  the  same  district,  but  in  connection 
with  the  Propagation  Society,  from  July   1877  to 


*  Heathens  have  been  heard  to  say,  writes  a  native  preacher 
from  ;Madras,  *'"VVe  can  understand  Christians  giving  sympathy 
and  help  to  tlieir  fellow-Christians  in  time  of  need,  hut  it  is  indeed 
wonderful  that  they  should  show  such  great  and  noble  compassion 
to  the  heathen  !  Tlicre  must,  indeed,  be  a  mvjiity  i^oiccr  in  their 
religion/" — Allgemeine  evangelische  Lutherischc  Kirchcn-Zcitung, 
supplement,  1879. 

t  See  Annual  Report,  1S7S,  p.  31  ;  lleidcnbote,  1S79,  p.  59. 

X  Sherring,  ibid.,  p.  123, 

§  Abstract  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  Report,  1S79,  p.  13. 


Their  Present  State.  163 

the  end  of  June  1878,  23,564  persons  betook  them- 
selves to  Bishop  Caldwell  and  his  fellow-labourers 
for  Christian  teaching.  Thus  the  English  Church 
7nission  in  Tinnevelly  and  Eamanath  (southern  point), 
in  hardly  a  year  and  a  half,  received  an  increase  of 
35,000  souls;*  whilst,  previous  to  that,  the  average 
growth  of  the  Church  Missionary  and  the  Propaga- 
tion societies,  in  Tinnevelly  and  Travancore,  had 
only  been  at  the  rate  of  2000  to  3000  per  annum. 
The  Propagation  Society  is  now  proclaiming  the 
Gospel  in  some  62^  i  villages  in  the  Tinnevelly  district. 
Though  this  number  is  made  up,  doubtless,  of  those 
who  are  receiving  instruction  previous  to  baptism,  and 
not  entirely  of  converts  pure  and  real,  still  it  is  just 
as  certainly  not  composed  of  mere  food- seeking  "rice 
Christians,"  but  of  those  who  have  been  awakened, 
and  who,  by  joining  the  Christian  Church,  have 
exposed  themselves  to  many  a  persecution.f  The 
movement — and  this  shows  how  deep  it  is — is  spread- 
ing, not  only  among  the  heathen,  but  among  the  native 
Christians,  many  of  whom,  filled  with  a  lively  zeal,  are 
now — in  most  cases  without  remuneration — devoting 
their  energies  to  the  instruction  of  inquirers^ 

If  we  add  to  this  progress  in  the  south  that  made 
in  other  parts  of  India,  more  especially  among  the 


*  Report  of  tlie  Propagation  Society,  1879,  p.  31,  sqq. 

+  Ibid.,  p.  32. 

X  Abstract  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  Report,  1879,  p.  13. 


1 64         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

KoUis  (about  3000  converts  annually)  the  Santals, 
the  Karcncs  in  Burmah,  and  Pegu,  &c.,  the  total 
increase  in  1878  amounts  to  from  50^000  to  60,000 
souls,  whilst  it  at  other  times  averaQ;ecl  from  6000 
to  10,000. 

When  we  consider  for  a  moment  how  the  above 
total  of  the  native  converts  in  India  (from  400,000  to 
500,000)  is  distributed  over  the  different  territories, 
a  striking  diversity  is  presented.  The  largest  propor- 
tion is  in  the  south,  in  the  presidency  of  Madras, 
the  number  amounting  to  over  200,000  Christians. 
Here  the  Propagation  Society  has  20,746  catechu- 
mens, 32,398  baptized  Christians,  300  day-schools, 
13,000  to  14,000  children  under  instruction,  with  48 
missionaries,  195  catechists,  394  native  teachers  and 
Bible  readers.*  The  Church  Missionary  Society  pos- 
sesses 75,592  native  Christians,  14,443  communi- 
cants, 730  seminaries  and  schools,  with  22,361  scholars, 
32  European  missionaries,  81  native  ordained  pastors, 
1058  native  catechists  and  teachers.-f-  To  these  two 
societies  belong  about  the  half  of  the  Christians  in 
Madras.  The  rest  are  divided  among : — the  London 
Missionary  Society  (which  has  many  self-supporting 
con^fre^ations  in  Telu^u,  Salem,  Travancore,  and 
other  districts) ;   the   American   Board  (which   lias 


*  Propar,'.'ition  Society's  Report,  1879,  pp.  16,  17, 

t  Abstract  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  Kei)ort,  p.  14. 


Theh^  Present  State.  165 

^'^'JJ  persons  in  the  32  cliurclies  of  its  Madura 
mission*);  the  American  Baptists  (with  12,000  bap- 
tized converts  in  Nellore);  the  Leipzic  Society  (with 
now  10,872  Christians  in  18  principal  stations,  and 
105  schools  with  2196  scholars  f);  the  Basel  Society, 
with  6805  niembers,  20  principal  stations,  including 
four  in  South  Mahratta,  belonging  to  the  presidency 
of  Bombay,  her  largest  field  of  labour,  with  6'^^ 
missionaries,  72  native  deacons,  catechists,  and 
evangelists,  55  teachers,  62  primary  and  secondary 
schools  with  2654  scholars,  of  whom  19  are  in  the 
seminary  for  pastors ;  J  the  London  Wesleyans 
(Madras  and  Mysore  district);  the  (Dutch)  Eeformed 
and  the  Episcopal  Methodist  Church  of  America;  the 
Scotch  Established  and  Eree  Churches,  the  Danish 
and  Hermannsburg  Societies,  &c.  In  Ceylon,  where 
Buddhism  spreads  its  deadly  shadow  over  the 
greater  part  of  the  island,  we  find  a  Protestant 
Church  slowly  rising  from  the  ruins  of  the  old 
Dutch  mission,  with  its  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
"political  Christians,"  who  quickly  again  returned 
to  Buddhism.  To-day  the  number  of  native  Chris- 
tians there  may  be  somewhat  over  32,000.  The 
much-to-be-deplored  quarrel  between  the  ritualistic 


*  Report  of  tlie  American  Board,  1878,  p.  72, 

+  Allgemeine  evangelisclie  Lutherisclie  Kirchen-Zeitung,  June 

13, 1879,  P-  554,  sg?. 
+  See  the  tables  in  the  Annual  Report,  1878,  p.  28,  sqq. 


1 66  Protesta7it  Foreion  Missions: 


<b 


bishop  and  tlie  missionaries  of  the  Church  Mission- 
ary Society  is  approaching  a  settlement  only  slowly. 
Side  by  side  with  the  last-mentioned  society,  with  1 1 
stations,  6695  native  Christians,  and  9524  scholars, 
we  find  the  Propagation  Society,  with  15  stations 
and  6000  to  7000  Church  members ;  the  Wesleyans, 
in  the  southern  (Singhalese)  territory,  wdth  48  sta- 
tions and  2021  members,  and  in  the  north  (Tamul) 
with  26  stations  and  806  adult  members;  the  Ame- 
rican Board,  with  7  stations  and  800  to  900  adult 
members  and  7291  scholars;*  and  the  English  Bap- 
tists, with  24  stations,  800  to  1000  members  and 
2400  scholars. 

Next  to  Southern  India,  the  most  fruitful  mis- 
sionary field  is  Burmali.  Here  the  American  Bap- 
tist Missionary  Union  carries  on  a  most  successful 
work,  partly  among  the  less  accessible  Buddhist 
Burmese,  but  more  especially  among  the  enslaved 
and  still  barbarian  Karencs.  The  rapid  spread 
of  this  mission  is  due  mainly  to  the  assistance  of 
native  forces,  energetic  labourers,  drawn  from  the 
people  themselves.  At  the  jubilee  festival  of  the 
mission,  1878,  a  beautiful  memorial  hall  was  con- 
secrated, in  memory  of  the  indefatigable  Ko-Tha- 
Byu,  who,  half  a  century  before,  had  entered  the 

*  According  to  tlio  last  annual  reports  of  the  Propagation 
Society,  Cliurcli  Missionary  Society,  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society, 
and  of  the  American  Board. 


Their  Present  State.  167 

service  of  the  mission  as  its  first  convert.*  The 
Baptist  Burmah  missions,  including  the  districts  of 
Eangoon,  Moulmein,  and  Touquin,  possesses  74  mis- 
sionaries, 98  ordained  native  pastors,  274  assistant 
preachers,  about  270  schools,  12  higher  educational 
institutions,  407  congregations — of  which  71  have 
native  ordained  ministers — 20,365  communicants,-f- 
and  about  70,000  native  Christians.  This  Church 
of  the  Karenes  supports  more  than  one-half  of  its 
congregations  and  schools  and  of  the  missionary- 
expenditure  in  the  land  itself.  The  mission  of  the 
Propagation  Society,  which  seems  to  have  its  atten- 
tion fixed  on  the  Burmese,  has  founded  many  schools 
on  the  Irrawadi,  and  has  penetrated  up  the  Eangoon 
and  beyond  British  territory  to  Mandelay,  and  into 
Burmah  now  thrown  open. 

Third,  but  not  far  behind  in  point  of  number 
of  converts,  come  Bengal  and  the  North-  West 
Provinces,  with  over  60,000  Christians.  Here  the 
largest  contingent  is  furnished  by  the  Gossner  mis- 
sion in  Chota  Nagpore,  among  the  aboriginal  tribes 
of  the  Kolhs.  There  are  about  30,000  baptized  con- 
verts in  seven  districts — under  only  1 3  missionaries — 
6  native  pastors,  1 5  candidates  for  the  ministry,  200 

*  Eppler,  Die  neuere  Entwickelung  der  Karenenmission. — AU- 
gemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  August  1878,  p.  350. 

t  According  to  account  of  Rev,  Dr.  Murdoch,  Mildmay  Con- 
ference, p.  193,  sqq.  ;  of.,  too.  Missionary  Herald  (Boston),  May 
1878,  p.  169,  and  Calw.  Mission.  Magazin.,  1879,  p.  43. 


1 68         Protestant  Forcioii  MissioJis : 

teachers  and  catecliists  (on  the  Ganges,  three  stations 
with  about  looo  Christians),  with  an  annual  increase 
of  more  than  2000  catechumens*  (the  figure  at  pre- 
sent has  risen  to  3000  or  4000).  Besides,  there  is 
the  Anglican  branch  of  this  mission,  in  connection 
with  the  Propagation  Society,  with  nearly  10,000 
Christians.  Next  we  have — likewise  among  a  tribe 
of  Aborigines — the  very  promising  Santal  mission, 
begun  by  two  independent  missionaries  from  Nor- 
way and  Denmark,  formerly  of  the  Gossner  mission, 
though  connected  to  a  certain  extent  with  the  Danish 
mission  at  Skrefsrud  and  Borresen,  which  is  now 
supported  by  30  native  pastors.  It  has  rapidly 
increased  to  30  congregations,  with  40  elders,  40 
schools,  and  5000  to  6000  Christians,  among  whom 
are  2264  communicants  (in  1877).^  The  Church 
Missionary  Society,  too,  is  engaged  in  work  with 
English  and  native  preachers,  but  complaints  are  made 
of  the  progress  of  Hindooism  among  the  people. 

We  do  not  follow  in  detail  all  the  numerous 
English,  Scottish,  and  American  missions  which  are 
to  be  found  in  Calcutta,  where  alone  eight  societies 
are  at  work,  and  up  the  valley  of  the  Ganges  in 
every  town  of  any  size.    The  communities  of  them  all, 

*  According  to  the  statistics  for  1877-78,  there  were  24,313  bap- 
tized converts,  7498  communicants  with  2223  catcclmmcns,  and 
71  scliools  with  1395  cliildrcn.  See  Plath,  the  ''CJossncr  Mission 
among  Hindoos  and  Kollis,"  1879,  p.  285. 

t  Das  Evangel,  in  Santalistan,  Basel,  1878,  p.  42,  .s^^. 


Their  Present  State.  169 

even  in  Calcutta,  are  small,  and  grow  slowly.  Any 
one  comino^  from  Southern  India,  and  descending^ 
from  the  Kolh  mountains  into  the  plains  of  the 
Ganges,  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  unpro- 
ductiveness of  the  soil  here  in  missionary  fruits. 
Those  ancient  fortresses  of  Hindooism  and  Indian 
Mohammedanism  in  Benares,  Allahabad,  Delhi,  &c., 
stand  out  as  defiantly  as  ever.  The  most  extensive 
mission  here  is  again  that  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society.  It  possesses  32  stations,  12,468  native 
Christians,  37  missionaries,  and  19  native  clergy- 
men, 291  seminaries  and  schools,  515  native 
teachers,  and  13,160  scholars.*  In  addition  to 
it  we  have  the  Baptists,  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  the  American  Presbyterians,  the  Episcopal 
Methodists,  the  Propagation  Society,  the  Scottish 
Churches  (National  and  Free),  the  Wesleyans,  the 
American  Baptists,  &c. 

In  the  Funjaitb  and  Sindh,  Protestant  mis- 
sions are  making  more  rapid  progress,  particularly 
through  the  agency  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  which  has  already  planted  in  Lahore  a 
flourishing  theological  seminary  for  converted  Hin- 
doos. It  has  already  been  stated  that  from  here, 
by  way  of  Peshawur,  the  Gospel  has  advanced  into 
Afghanistan  and  Cashmere.     The  society  has  here 


*  Abstract  of  tlie   Church  Missionary  Society's   Report,    1879, 
p.  II. 


I  70        Protestant  Foreio-n  Missions 


<b 


13  stations,  23  missionaries,  7  native  clergymen, 
1 178  native  Christians,  and  4797  scholars  in  75 
schools.*  In  addition  there  are  at  work,  the 
American  Presbyterians  (whose  chief  centre  is  in 
Liidhiana),  ■f  the  United  Presbyterians  of  America, 
and  the  Established  Church  of  Scotland. 

Casting  a  glance  at  the  West  Coast,  we  perceive 
that  the  extensive  territory  of  Eajpootana  has  been 
taken  np  by  Protestant  missions  only  to  a  very 
small  extent.  Kemote  from  all  others,  the  United 
Presbyterians  of  Scotland  carry  on  their  labours 
here  with  9  missionaries,  4  medical  missionaries, 
8  central  stations,  273  communicants,  94  schools, 
and  3453  scholars.  I  The  presidency  of  Bombay 
and  the  Central  Provinces  contain  very  few  Pro- 
testant missions,  and  seem  to  be  the  most  barren 
of  all  the  Indian  mission  fields.  Tlie  total  number 
of  native  Christians  within  them  cannot  exceed 
7000.  Of  these  988  are  in  the  six  stations  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  whose  agents,  however, 
report  that  recently  there  has  been  a  great  demand 


*  Abstract  of  the  Churcli  Missionary  Society's  Report,  p.  12. 
In  1872-73  there  were  only  552  baptized  converts  and  2800 
scholars. 

t  In  the  Ludhiana  mission  there  are  13  congregations  with  318 
communicants  ;  in  the  Furruckabad  mission,  8  congregations  with 
318  communicants,  and  together  upwards  of  7000  scholars  in  the 
day-schools. — Report,  1879,  pp.  52-54. 

X  Missionary  Record  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  June 
1879,  1>-  527- 


Their  Present  State,  1 7 1 

for  the  Scriptures  in  Bombay  *  Not  much  smaller  is 
the  Mahratta  mission  of  the  American  Board,  which 
has  5  principal  and  many  outlying  stations,  10 14  adult 
members,  23  congregations,  10  missionaries,  and  14 
native  pastors,  and  50  schools  with  801  scholars.-)* 
The  stations,  four  in  number,  of  the  Propagation 
Society  seem  to  embrace  not  more  than  600  or  700 
Church  members,  J  and  the  four  of  the  Scotch  Free 
Church  probably  not  more  than  900,  with  upwards 
of  2200  scholars.  §  The  others  are  considerably 
less — e.g.,  the  American  Episcopal  Methodist  Church 
with  some  400  or  500  Christians — though  the 
Basel  mission  in  South  Mahratta  has  increased 
its  membership  to  1057.  I^  ^^®  central  provinces 
in  Nagpore,  and  among  the  Ghonds,  the  Scotch  Free 
Church  has  some  small  missions  still  in  their  in- 
fancy, as  have  also  the  German  Protestant  Missionary 
Society  of  America  and  the  Swedish  Fosterland 
Institute.  The  latter  has  lately  begun  work  in 
Narsingpore  and  Sagar  with  four  missionaries,  ||  and 
maintains  two  missionaries  among  the  Ghonds.  Be- 
sides these,  there  only  remains  to  be  mentioned  the 
mission  of  the  General  Baptists  in  Orissa  (on  the  east 


*  Abstract  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society's  Report.  1879,  p.  9. 

t  Report  of  the  American  Board,  1878,  p.  64. 

X  Report,  1879,  p.  17. 

§  Report  on  Foreign  Missions,  1877,  p.  64,  sqq. 

II   Missions- Tidning,  May  1879. 


172         Protestant  Foi^eio-n  Missions  : 


o 


coast),  with  six  stations  and  about  looo  communi- 
cants,* and  that  outpost  of  Protestantism  at  the 
gates  of  Thibet,  the  Moravian  mission  in  the 
Western  Himalaya  (two  stations  and  thirty-four 
native  Christians). 

A  classification  of  the  total  number  of  converts, 
not  according  to  provinces,  but  according  to  caste 
and  state  of  education,  will  brines  to  iiG:ht  several 
facts  characteristic  of  the  results  of  Indian  missions. 
Five-sixths  of  the  converts  in  all  Indian  missions 
belong  to  the  loiver  grades  of  society,  and  are  either 
of  low  caste  or  are  without  any  at  all.f  Converted 
Brahmins  are  nowhere  absolutely  wanting,  but  their 
number  is  as  yet  small.  Accordingly  it  is  clearly 
shown  that  the  black  aboriginal  races,  with  their  pre- 
Brahminical  demon  worship  and  the  scmi-Brahmi- 
nism  of  Southern  India — a  mixture  of  Brahminism 
with  low  caste — are  much  more  accessible  to  the 
Gospel  tlian  the  Brahmins  proper  of  the  north.  And, 
remarkably  enough,  these  two  most  fruitful  branches 
of  the  great  missionary  tree  possess  cognate  languages. 
The  races  which  are  to  be  found  extending  from  the 
Malayalim,  Tamil,  Telugu,  &c.,  up  as  [far  as  Kola 
and   Santal,|   are    in    language   Dravidian,   and   to 

*  On  an  average. 

t  Sherring,  see  above,  p,  ii8. 

X  See  the  map  of  Indian  languages  in  Clrundcmnnirs  (Jonor.il 
Atlas  of  Missions,  Asia,  Ko.  vi.,  and  Monier  Williams'  niaj)  of 
Hindooism,  London,  1877. 


Their  Present  State.  1 73 

them  Brahmin  Hindooism,  with  its  Aryan  languages, 
is  opposed. 

Thus  then  we  see  that,  in  this  ancient  land  of 
civilisation,  it  is  precisely  those  races  and  classes 
of  people  which,  in  religion  and  social  position,  ham 
relatively  come  least  under  the  influence  of  heathen 
culture,  that  are  most  accessiUe  to  Christianity  ;  whilst 
the  real  strongholds  of  the  Hindoo  religion  and 
civilisation — the  north  with  its  Benares,  one  may 
say  all  the  higher,  better  educated  castes  and  more 
enlightened  tribes  generally  of  India — still  stand  out 
defiant,  like  a  mighty  fortress,  which,  though  be- 
sieged indeed,  is  far  yet  from  having  been  taken. 
But  the  tmdermi7ii7iy  process  is  going  on,  which, 
through  time,  must  lead  to  the  downfall,  though 
when  this  wdll  take  place  we  cannot  even  guess. 
The  tree  of  Hindooism  will  be  brought  down  by  the 
axe  of  the  Gospel,  for  whose  handle  itself  has  pro- 
vided the  wood,  i.e.,  through  the  preaching  of  the 
Word  by  native  agents.  And  this  the  more  thought- 
ful of  the  Hindoos  now  see  and  openly  admit. 
"  After  all,  what  did  the  Mohammedans  do  ? "  said 
a  Hindoo  to  Mr.  Leupolt.*  "  They  broke  down  a  few 
bricks  from  the  top  of  the  house ;  these  men  (the 
missionaries)  undermine  its  foundation  by  preach- 
ing   and   teaching,   and,   when   once   a   great   rain 

*  Leupolt,  ' '  Recollections  of  an  Indian  Missionary  in  the  Church 
Mission. -Intell.,"  1878-79. 


1/4         Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

comes,  tlie  whole  building  ^yill  come  down  with  a 
crash." 

The  power  which  holds  these  still  together  is  no 
longer  the  religious  system  itself,  with  its  many- 
internal  varieties  ;  not  the  literature  as  such,  ancient 
or  modern,  at  present  a  so  heterogeneous  compilation 
from  ancient  and  devout  prayers,  phantastic  specu- 
lations, and  absurd,  oftentimes  terribly  oppressive, 
injunctions,  and  coloured  by  pantheism,  polytheism, 
and  even  theism ;  not  the  influence  of  heathen  faith 
and  thought,  but — caste.  As  a  system,  Hindooism 
is  becoming  more  and  more  a  relic  *  It  is  daily 
losing  its  power  over  the  popular  mind.  Strong 
though  its  roots  yet  are,  among  the  people  the 
influence  of  polytheistic  superstition  has  already 
lost  its  hold  on  the  educated,  while  the  young  of 
India  are  becoming  less  and  less  subject  to  its 
power.  But  caste  clamps  the  old  building  firmly 
together.  Even  freethinkers  have  not  the  courage 
to  break  with  it.  "  You  know,"  said  an  accom- 
jjlished  Hindoo  to  Mr.  Leupolt,  "that,  properly 
speaking,  we  have  now  no  religious  belief;  any  one 
can  believe  what  he  likes,  so  long  as  he  retains 
caste ! "  In  fact,  Hindooism  only  still  clings  to 
caste,  because  caste  in  its  turn  supports  Hindooism. 
All  the  more  reason,  then,  that  it  be  energetically 

*  Cf.,  too,  Jenkins,  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  165. 


Their  Prese7it  State.  175 

attacked ;  for,  once  a  breach  be  made  here,  the  whole 
building  will  fall  to  pieces.  Among  Protestant  mis- 
sionary societies  there  is  no  question  as  to  ivhdlur 
or  not  the  great  social  fetter  of  Hindooism  must  be 
removed.  But  it  is  still  a  matter  of  dispute  whether, 
in  the  case  of  converts,  caste  may  be  merely  restricted, 
and  its  complete  extinction  left  to  the  working  of 
the  spirit  of  the  Gospel ;  or  whether  it  must,  from 
the  very  first,  be  attacked,  and  a  complete  renuncia- 
tion of  it  demanded.  In  this  respect  the  practice  of 
some  societies,  particularly  of  the  Leipzic  Society, 
differs  from  that  of  the  great  majority. 

Without  in  the  very  least  seeking  to  settle  this 
complicated  and  much-discussed  question  by  one 
or  two  authoritative  statements,  I  must  confess 
that,  to  my  mind,  the  first-mentioned  practice  seems 
dangerous,  inasmuch  as  it  is  incompatible  with  a 
clear  and  pure  carrying  out  of  Christian  principle. 
And  in  my  opinion  I  have  lately  been  much 
strengthened  by  an  impartial  witness,  Professor 
MoNiER  Williams,  of  Oxford,  in  his  work  entitled, 
"Modern  India  and  the  Indians"  (1879).  He 
says : — "  It  is  difficult  for  us  Europeans  to  under- 
stand how  the  pride  of  caste,  as  a  divine  ordinance, 
interpenetrates  the  whole  being  of  a  Hindoo.  He 
looks  upon  his  caste  as  his  veritable  god ;  and  those 
caste  rules  which  we  believe  to  be  a  hindrance  to 
his  adoption  of  the  true  religion,  are  to  him  the 


176         Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

very  essence  of  all  religion,  for  they  influence  his 
whole  life  and  conduct." 

It  is  perfectly  possible,  no  doubt,  to  point  to  some 
good  service  which  the  laws  of  caste  in  India  have 
rendered,  as  the  protection  they  give  against  com- 
plete lawlessness;  but  these  are  completely  out- 
weighed— as  Professor  Williams  goes  on  to  observe 
— by  the  irreparahU  harm  they  are  inflicting  on  the 
Hindoo  population,  physically,  mentally,  and  morally; 
by  insisting  on  marriage  in  early  youth  as  a  religious 
duty ;  by  bonds  of  endogamy  (marriage  within  caste 
only,  sometimes  within  a  particular  lower  section 
of  caste) ;  by  surrounding  family  and  home  life  with 
a  wall  of  secrecy.  Let  any  one  go  to  the  upper 
classes  of  the  High  Schools  of  India,  and  he  wiU 
find  that  half  of  the  boys  there  are  already  fathers ! 
ISTow,  I  ask,  have  we  not  here  the  cause  of  the 
sickliness  of  so  many  millions  in  India  ?  Will  the 
children  of  mere  children  not  remain  children  all 
their  life?  What  is  the  reason  of  the  childish 
character  of  the  Indian  women  ?  Is  it  not  their 
terrible  seclusion  by  the  caste  laws  ?  Nothing  can 
be  done  here,  except  by  a  new  ideal  of  womanhood, 
a  complete  renovation  of  family  life,  the  liberation 
of  the  female  population  from  their  prisons  at  home, 
in  a  word,  by  a  radical  renovation  of  the  whole 
social  structure  !  * 

*  It  is  a  matter  for  tliaukl'ulncss  that  the  question  of  children's 


Their  Present  State.  1 7  7 

Therefore  away  with  caste,  that  root  of  all 
India's  social  misery;  and — I  must  say  it  —  the 
more  thoroughly  it  is  extirpated  the  better,  not 
only  that  the  chief  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  the 
Gospel  may  be  taken  out  of  the  way, -but  for  the 
sake  of  the  170,000,000  souls  in  India  !  An  evil,  two 
thousand  years  old,  may  easily  continue  to  spread, 
if,  as  soon  as  it  is  attacked,  it  be  not  completely 
extirpated.  Lately,  the  question  of  caste  was  like 
to  have  cropped  up  again  among  the  Christians  in 
Krishnagur,  had  not  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
adopted  measures  of  strict  discipline  and  at  once 
choked  the  weed.  And  without  doubt  that  was  the 
right  course  to  adopt.  To  deal  too  leniently  with 
caste,  which  at  any  time  is  liable  to  become  a  source 
of  disastrous  strife — as  it  was  under  Schwartz,* 
and  in  more  recent  times — may  have  the  effect  of 
temporarily  raising  the  number  of  professing  Chris- 
tians ;  but  this  increase,  it  is  feared  by  many — who 
point  to  the  case  of  the  Eomish  Church — will  be 
followed  by  the  complete  stagnation  of  all  congre- 
gational life.f 

marriages  is  in  India  becoming  the  subject  of  public  controversy. 
Already  a  distinguished  native  Christian  lawyer  has  declared  that 
he  will  devote  his  life  and  strength  to  their  abolishment ;  see  Mrs. 
Weitbreeht,  "The  Women  of  India,"  p.  ii.  May  God  bless  his 
endeavours  ! 

*  The  famous  German  missionary  in  Tranquebar,  179S. 

t  See  the  valuable  article  "On  Caste  and  Christian  Missions," 
Church  Missionary  Intelligencer,  March  1879,  p.  129,  sqq. 

M 


I  78  Protestant  Foixio^n  Missions  : 


«b 


It  is  to  be  hoped  that  all  Protestant  missions  will 
show  a  united  front  in  dealing  with  caste,  leaving 
its  preservation,  even  in  a  restricted  form,  entirely 
to  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church !  And  here  it  is 
above  all  things  to  be  desired,  that,  in  an  eminently 
practical  question  like  this,  advice  should  be  sought, 
not  from  mere  theoretical  scholars,  who  judge  the 
question  afar  off,  chiefly  from  an  historical  point 
of  view,  but  from  those  who  have  formed  their 
opinion  from  a  personal  inspection  and  experience 
of  the  circumstances  as  we  have  to  deal  with  them 
in  tlu  -present  dcty.  There  would  thus  be  a  better 
hope  of  attaining  unanimity,  at  least  in  the  practical 
treatment  of  the  matter. 

Still  this  mighty  power  in  the  social  life  of  India 
has  begun  here  and  there,  however  slowly,  to  yield. 
Contact  with  Christian  culture  and  manners,  "  the 
general  extension  of  even  a  mere  superficial  know- 
ledge of  Christianity,  is,"  as  Sir  Bartle  Frere  says, 
"  the  decdli-hnell  of  caste.  Generations  may  pass  till 
the  result  be  attained,  but  finally  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  it." 

There  are  now  widows  wdiose  remarriage  meets 
with  the  entire  approval  of  the  rising  generation  of 
India.  The  very  railway  becomes  an  ally  in  the 
struggle  against  caste.  Hindooism  is  unsuited  to  the 
whole  progress  of  modern  social  life,  and  therefore 
all  things  are  contributing  to  cause  it,  as  a  system, 


Their  Present  State.  179 

to  crumble  to  pieces.  Enlightened  social  ideas  and 
customs  are  making  their  influence  felt,  wherever 
the  Hindoo  has  gained  any  idea  of  Christian  family 
life ;  and  caste,  with  its  dreadful  and  unnatural  con- 
straints, seems  an  anachronism,  and,  felt  to  be  a 
burden,  it  is  not  now  so  strictly  observed.  Wlien 
caste  has  once  been  lost,  the  priests,  in  order  to 
retain  something  at  least,  must  do  all  in  their  power 
to  facilitate  a  return  to  it. 

The  enlightening  influence  of  the  schools,  bringing 
as  they  do  idol  worship  into  general  disrepute,  helps 
naturally  to  undermine  the  system  of  caste.  And 
this  applies  not  only  to  mission,  but  also  to  govern- 
ment schools!^  Though  these  latter,  it  is  to  be 
regretted,  exclude  the  Bible  and  all  religious  in- 
struction, as  a  matter  of  principle,  it  would  be  going 
too  far  to  regard  them  as  directly  hostile  to  missions. 
By  rooting  out  a  mass  of  heathen  prejudice,  they, 
too,  must  prepare  the  way  for  Christianity.  But  it  is 
a  circumstance  in  the  highest  degree  to  be  deplored 
that,  by  the  influence  of  rationalistic  teachers,  a  spirit 
decidedly  anti- Christian  is  now  prevalent,  and  scepti- 
cism towards  every  form  of  positive  religion  directly 
promoted.  No  doubt  the  man  of  letters  will  soon 
give  up  his  faith  in  the  Hindoo   cosmogony;   but 

*  Cf.  here  specially  the  paper  by  Dr.  Murray  Mitchell  on  ' '  The 
Systems  of  Education  Pursued  in  India,"  Mildmay  Conference,  p. 
124,  sqq.,  and  the  discussion  which  followed. 


t8o        Protestant  Forei'oji  Missions  : 


<b 


iiiasmiicli  as  Christian  conceptions  are  not  put  in  place 
of  it,  he  is  but  too  apt  to  apply  his  scepticism  to  the 
Bible  and  believe  in  no  record  of  divine  revelation. 
Professor  Williams  is  right  when  he  says,  "The 
faculty  of  faith  is  wholly  destroyed  at  government 
High  Schools  and  colleges.*  Applied  to  the  female 
population  this  system  of  education,  without  Bible 
and  religion,  must  be  especially  demoralising."  -f- 

And,  if  I  judge  rightly,  the  shortsightedness  of 
this  system,  which,  by  preserving  a  certain  neutrality 
in  matters  of  religion,  seeks — vainly,  however — to 
keep  things  smooth,  is  calling  forth,  in  ever-increas- 
inoj  numbers,  voices  of  dissent  in  India  and  Endand. 
For  in  its  education  policy  the  Government  is  im- 
partialX  neither  to  Christianity  nor  to  Hindooism, 
but,  at  the  expense  of  both,  favours  scepticism,  which 
believes  only  in  human  science.  Therefore,  as  several 
persons  thoroughly  acquainted  with  India  have  as- 


*  Taper  by  Dr.  Murray  Mitchell,  p.  131, 
t  Mrs.  AVeitbrecht,  "The  Women  of  India,"  1878,  p.  28. 
X  See  the  Rev.  J.  Johnston's  remarks  at  the  I\Iildmay  Conference, 
p.  146,  sqq.  "When  statesmen  repeatedly  inquire,  "Are  we  at  liberty 
to  take  the  money  of  the  natives  of  India,  to  undermine  their  own 
religion  ? "  we  answer.  The  people  of  India  are  now  entrusted  to 
a  Ciiristian  Government,  which  must  in  every  way  promote  their 
welfare.  If  the  Government  have  the  honest  conviction,  that  tliis  is 
done  in  the  best  and  most  lasting  manner  by  means  of  the  bless- 
ings of  the  Gospel,  then  it  is  tlieir  duty — however  little  understood 
by  the  present  generation — with  regard  to  the  future,  to  grant 
free  access  to  these  blessings,  and,  though  of  course  without  com- 
pulsion, to  prepare  the  way  for  the  extinction  of  the  old  religions. 


Their  Present  State.  1 8 1 

surecl  me,  this  see- saw  system  in  schools  or  churches, 
— as  when  Christian  governors,  in  order  to  show  their 
liberality,  lend  moral  and  material  support  to  heathen 
religious  practices,* — is,  in  the  eyes  of  Hindoos, 
regarded,  not  as  far-seeing  statesmanship,  but  as  a 
simple  loant  of  decision  in  matters  of  religion,  and 
as  such  despised.  For  the  Hindoo  can  respect  no 
man  who  acts  in  opposition  to  his  own  religion. 
And  is  he  so  far  wrong  in  this  ?  In  truth,  no  policy 
is  far-seeing  which  is  destitute  of  character,  and 
none  can  care  adequately  for  the  future  of  a  people 
that  is  without  the  imperial  idea,  the  firm  belief 
in  the  ever-enlarging  kingdom  of  God  and  the 
dependence  of  all  human  welfare  on  its  progress ! 
But,  lastly — and  in  this  there  is  an  ever-growing 
consensus  of  opinion  -f — the  Government  schools  no 
longer  supply  the  true  wants  of  India.  Why,  com- 
paratively speaking,  are  there  so  many  High  Schools  ? 
Why  is  so  much  money  (^^looo  or  2000)  spent  in 
making  the  B.A.,  who  is  specially  prepared  for  his 


*  The  Viceroy,  Lord  Lytton  (in  tlie  autumn  of  1878),  presented 
500  rupees  to  the  Golden  Temple  of  the  Sikhs  in  Umritsur,  which 
won  him  little  respect  from  the  heathen.  The  other  day  the 
Governor  of  Bombay,  Sir  Richard  Temple,  with  his  retinue  was 
present  at  an  idolatrous  festival,  and  listened  to  a  panegyric  on 
the  elephant-headed  goddess  Ganpati  (see  ''  Bombay  Guardian"). 

t  Even  among  governors  and  inspectors  of  government  schools. 
See  Friend  of  India,  January  24,  1879,  and  Church  Miss.  Intell., 
April  1879,  p.  214,  S22-  ;  Missions-Magazin,  1874,  p.  22,  sqq. 


1 82         Protestant  Foreign  Alissions  : 

examination,  and  cannot  long  retain  his  quickly- 
acquired,  undigested  knowledge,  when  as  many  as 
%Z  per  cent,  of  the  Indian  population  are  as  good  as 
uneducated  ?  *  What  India  needs,  is  not  so  much 
academies^  as  elementary  schools  ! 

For  the  present,  so  long  as  the  authorities  do  not 
see  their  way  to  introduce  essential  changes  into 
the  system  hitherto  pursued,  there  is  no  other 
course  left  open — if  I  may  be  permitted  to  express 
an  opinion  on  this  somewhat  complicated  question — 
but  to  keep  constantly  reminding  the  Government 
of  its  solemnly  given  promise  in  1854,  to  extend 
liberal  support  to  mission  schools.  And,  many  per- 
sons are  now  demanding  that  it  should  make  good 
its  word-|-  by  insisting  that,  in  the  selection  of 
teachers  for  the  Hicfli  Scliools,  more  attention  be 
paid  to  the  possession  of  real  Christian  conviction, 
in  order  that  scientific  instruction  may  be  given  on 
at  least  a  Christian  basis;  that  religious  instruc- 
tion in  the  Holy  Scriptures  be  made  at  any  rate 
possible  for  those  who  desire  it ;  and,  in  like  manner, 
that  an  examination  in  Scripture  knowledge  be 
made  an  optional  suhject  for  those  who  are  about 
to  proceed  to  the  degree  of  B.A.,  thus  turning  the 
religious  instruction  given  in  the  mission  schools  to 


*  See  passage  above  quoted,  ])j).  216,  217, 
t  See  Miklmay  Coufereiice,  p.  135,  sq(i. 


Their  Pi-esent  State.  183 

some  account  for  the  University.*  It  remains,  then, 
the  duty  of  all  societies  at  work  in  India  to  main- 
tain, along  with  or  in  opposition  to  the  Government 
schools,  tluir  own  seminaries,  and  to  extend  them 
according  to  their  ability.  Of  these  last  there  were 
in  i860  almost  2000  in  India,  which,  at  the  time 
of  the  Allahabad  Conference  (1872),  were  attended 
by  122,372  scholars  (of  whom  26,611  were  girls),  a 
number  which  since  that  time  may  have  increased 
to  140,000  or  143,000.-1-  Within  ten  years,  1600  of 
these  had  passed  the  final  examination  in  one  of  the 
Indian  Universities.  The  Indian  Government  itself  is 
becoming  ever  more  ready  to  acknowledge  how  great 
a  gain  these  schools  and  mission  work  in  general  are 
for  the  intellectual  and  moral  elevation  of  all  classes 
of  the  people.J  In  Southern  India  Professor  Williams 
bestows  especial  praise  on  the  schools  of  the  Free 
Church  of  Scotland  in  Madras,  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  under  Bishop  Sargent  in  Tinnevelly, 
and  of  the  Basel  Society  in  Mangalore,  &c.  §      In 

*  Cf.  the  same  demand  by  the  director  of  the  Church  Missionary- 
Society's  College  in  Masulipatam,  Rev.  M.  Sharps,  and  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Hughes  of  Peshawur,  Miklmay  Conference,  p.  150. 

+  According  to  Dr.  M.  Mitchell,  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  132. 
According  to  Warneck,  ''Mission  uud  Cultur,"  p.  109,  there  were 
as  many  as  142,952  in  1872. 

X  Cf.  in  "Church  Missionary  Gleaner,"  October  1878,  p.  113,  a 
compilation  of  the  testimonies  of  Lord  Lawrence,  Sir  Bartle  Frere, 
Sir  Donald  Macleod,  Lord  Northbrook,  and  other  Government 
reports,  of  the  good  effects  of  Protestant  missions  in  India. 

§  The  "Indian  Female  Evangelist,"  July  1879,  p.  336.      "The 


184         Protestant  Fore^'o^n  Missions : 


«^ 


our  opinion  it  is  making  a  great  demand  on  tlie 
missionary  exchequer  at  home,  when  money  is  asked 
from  it  for  the  support  of  purely  scientific  institutes, 
where  the  missionary  has  to  act  as  professor  of 
philosophy  and  mathematics,  ko..  Several  English 
societies  possess  institutes  of  this  kind,  as  in  Cal- 
cutta and.  Madras,  but  a  convert  almost  never  comes 
forth  from  them,  because,  amidst  the  mass  of  scien- 
tific subjects,  instruction  in  Christianity  is  pushed 
into  the  background.  If  secular  science  cannot  and 
ought  not  to  be  excluded  from  a  course  of  education, 
still  the  chief  aim  of  mission  schools  should  be,  not 
the  propagation  of  such  knowledge,  but  that  of  the 
kingdom  of  God ;  not  to  train  young  men  to  be 
government  officials,  but  to  become  active  Church 
members,  teachers,  and  pastors.  Missionary  inte- 
rests, as  such,  do  not  extend  beyond  this.  Nor 
should  it  be  forgotten,  that,  when  the  catechetical 
school  in  Alexandria  became  through  time  a  purely 
scientific  institute,  it  ceased  to  flourish. 

And  this  brings  us  to  consider  generally  some 
of  the  methods  of  missionary  work  pursued  in  India. 
The  Allahabad  Conference  very  properly  recom- 
mended, instead  of  mere  station  labour,  the  active 


gi'eat  complaint  that  one  hears  on  all  sides,  while  travellinj,'  in 
India,"  says  Professor  Williams,  "is  that  we  are  over-educatini,'. 
Quality,  not  quantity,  is  what  is  wanted  in  India."  And  not  in 
India  alone  ! 


Their  P^^esent  State.  1 8  5 

prosecution  of  evangelisation.  And  what  was  said 
above  with  reference  to  Africa  is  applicable  here 
to  civilised  peoples :  a  missionary  should  be  more 
of  an  evangelist  than  of  a  resident  pastor.*  Espe- 
cially should  he  act  more  than  yet  has  been  done  on 
the  double  j)rinciple: — (i)  He  should  seek  to  reach 
fields  as  far  distant  as  possible ;  (2)  in  particular 
places,  where  the  seed  of  the  Word  seems  to  fall 
on  a  receptive  soil,  he  should,  like  Christ  at  Sychar 
(John  iv.  43),  remain  long  enough  to  commence  the 
formation  of  a  station.  Compared  with  that  of  the 
cities,  where  the  ground  is,  generally  speaking, 
unproductive,  the  village  population  in  India  has 
as  yet  been  too  much  negiected.-|-  On  the  other 
hand,  medical  missionaries  should  not  journey  too 
much  about,  but,  as  a  rule,  remain  in  one  station.^ 
One  reason  why  itinerant  preaching  has  fallen  into 
disuse  is  undoubtedly  this,  that  many  missionaries 
in  India  devote  themselves  too  assiduously  to  school 


*  Cf.  here  the  excellent  tract  of  the  American  Board  (Boston), 
Missionary  Tracts,  No.  i:  "The  Theory  of  Missions  to  the 
Heathen,"  p.  12,  sqq.  Cf.,  too,  Allgemeine  Missions- Zeitschrift, 
1874,  p.  43  sqq.;   1 8 76,  p.  443,  sqq. 

t  A  respectable  Hindoo  recently  asked  this  question,  "  How  is 
it,  that  you  missionaries  are  trying  to  work  upon  the  people  in  the 
great  towns,  while  you  are  leaving  to  a  gi'eat  extent  untouched 
what  is  the  backbone  of  the  population  of  India,  the  village  com- 
munities?"    See  Mildmay  Conference,  p,  151,  sqq. 

X  See  the  reasons  in  "Medical  Missions  at  Home  and  Abroad," 
October  1878,  p.  22  ;  in  the  first  place  for  China,  but  also  for  India. 


1 86         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

work.  On  this  complaints  were  made  at  Allahabad, 
and  not  without  reason.  Here,  then,  as  in  the  case 
of  all  one-sided  literary  labour,  the  various  mis- 
sionary societies  must  ever  make  it  a  rule  that 
education  and  the  press  shall  only  support  and 
assist  preaching.* 

An  important  factor  in  the  work  of  regenerating 
India  is  the  Zenana  mission,  which  must,  however, 
be  more  and  more  widely  extended,  in  closest 
possible  connection  with  the  missionary  societies 
and  with  their  warmest  sympathy,  as  is  already 
the  case  with  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  But 
whilst  labour  is  expended  upon  the  secluded  zenanas 
— ladies  of  rich  families  and  noble  birth — the  poorer 
women  of  the  towns  and  villages,  who  more  espe- 
cially in  agricultural  districts  enjoy  much  greater 
freedom,  and  are  therefore  more  accessible,  must 
not  be  forgotten.-f 

In  the  feeding-schools  for  females,  the  poor  girls 
of  higher  caste  sliould  not  be  spoiled  by  European 
fare,  so  as  to  become  discontented  when  they  return 
home,  or  are  married  to  husbands  whose  means 
are  small.  |     Medical  missions  for  women,  rich  and 


*  C(.,€.r/.,  tliG  principle  of  the  American  Board  in  Boston; 
Memorial  Volume  of  the  first  Fifty  Years,  1863,  p.  246,  and  Mis- 
sionary Tracts,  No.  15  :  "Outline  of  Missionary  Policy,"  p.  13,  sgq. 

t  Cf.  the  account  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Paine,  of  Calcutta,  ]\lildmay 
Conference,  p.  316,  sqq. 

X  Mrs.  Wcitbrecht,  "The  Women  of  India,"  p.  24,  572- 


TJieii'  Pi'eseiit  State.  187 

poor,  is  one  of  the  most  crying  wants  of  India. 
When  they  fall  ill,  women  are  completely  neglected  : 
hence  the  enormously  high  death-rate  of  women 
and  children.  In  the  centre  of  every  one  of  the 
populous  districts  a  female  medical  mission  should 
be  started.^ 

Of  great  importance  is  the  missionary  press  among 
a  civilised  heathen  people,  and  doubly  so  when  that 
people,  whilst  progressing  in  culture  and  enlighten- 
ment, is,  at  the  same  time,  inundated  with  the 
sceptical  literature  of  the  West.  This  is  the 
case  with  India.  Extracts  from  Paine's  "Age  of 
Eeason"  are  affixed  to  the  walls  in  Calcutta  and 
eagerly  read;  and  in  the  seats  of  the  Universities, 
as  in  Bombay,  it  has  been  for  years  a  common 
thincr   to   hear  —  as   was    said   at   the   bemnnincr — . 

o  00 

natives  confronting  the  missionaries  with  extracts 
from  Hegel,  Strauss,  and  Eenan.  It  is  not  alone 
the  unchristian  lives  of  numbers  of  Europeans  that 
are  an  offence  to  the  natives ;  a  stumblingblock  is 
put  in  their  way  by  the  many  attacks  which  have 
been  made  on  Christianity  in  Christian  lands,  and 
the  report  of  which  reached  even  them.  Erom  this 
some  conclude  that,  in  the  West,  Christianity  is  in 
its  death-agony,  and  that  it  is  absurd  to  try  to 
import   it  into   other   lands.     Sometimes   our   mis- 

*  Mrs.  Weitbrecht,    "  The  "Women  of  India,"  p.  25,  and  Mild- 
may  Conference,  p.  186. 


1 88        Pi'otestant  Foreign  Missions: 

sionaries  come  upon  opposition  missionaries,  sent 
by  the  Brahmins  in  order  to  refute  them.*  In 
addition,  a  bad,  oftentimes  impure,  literature  is  in 
circulation  throughout  the  land.f  From  all  these 
circumstances  it  is  evident  how  indispensable  is 
a  Christian  press  as  a  counteractive.  Now  there 
are  no  doubt  in  India  txocnty-five  missionary  presses 
at  work.  Between  1862-72,  3410  new  books  were 
issued  in  thirty  different  languages,  and  in  the  same 
period  1,315,503  portions  of  Scripture;  2,375,040 
school  tracts,  and  8,750,129  tracts  and  Christian 
books  were  distributed. :]:  The  press  of  the  Basel 
Society  in  Mangalore  printed,  in  1877  alone,  166,090 
books  and  tracts  in  three  different  Indian  languages, 
as  well  as  in  English,  §  and  the  efforts  of  the  Bible 
and  the  Tract  Societies  and  the  Christian  Verna- 
cular Education  Society  in  this  way  are  deserving 
of  all  praise.  Still,  as  one  wlio  knows  India  assured 
me,  all  this  is  miserably  little,  compared  with  the 
magnitude  of  what  yet  remains  to  be  done,  ||  or 
compared  with  the  wide  circulation  of  heathen  and 
sceptical  literature.  Especially  must  it  never  be 
forgotten,  that  it  requires  not  only  good  linguists, 


*  E.g.,    the   Basel  missionaries.       See   IleiJcnbotc,    Kovciulter 
1877,  p.  82. 
+  According  to  Rev.  !Mr.  Paine,  quoted  above,  p.  141. 
:J:  See  Allgemcine  Missions-Zeitsclirift,  1876,  p.  147. 
§  The  Missionary  Mr.  Sclirenk,  Mikbnay  Conierencc,  p.  142. 
II  Paine,  as  above  quoted,  p.  140. 


Their  Present  State.  189 

but  accomplislied  theologians,  to  stem  the  tide  of 
unbelief,  with  a  thoroughly  good  Christian  apolo- 
getical  literature. 

As  soon  as  any  member  of  a  caste  embraces  Chris- 
tianity, he  is  disowned  by  his  family,  and  so  cut  off 
from  all  means  of  livelihood.  This  is  still  the  occa- 
sion of  much  perplexity  to  the  missionary,  as  is  also 
the  fact  that  the  lower  classes,  from  whom  most  of 
the  converts  are  made,  are,  of  necessity,  very  poor. 
Here,  then,  recourse,  nmist  he  had  to  missionary  indus- 
tries. But  the  missionary  must  beware  of  sinking  to 
the  level  of  a  workhouse  warder,  or  of  keeping  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  in  a  state  of  "  economical  tutelage." 
Eather  no  missionary  industry  than  "rice-Chris- 
tians ! "  How  great  a  moral  influence  can  be  attained 
by  conducting  an  industry  on  really  Christian  princi- 
ples, is  shown  by  a  case  in  connection  with  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  in  Umritsur,  which  recently  came 
to  my  knowledge.  A  convert  received  assistance  to 
open  a  shop,  that  so  he  might  gain  a  livelihood.  He 
conducted  his  business  on  such  straightforward  prin- 
ciples, that  throughout  the  whole  town  the  house 
became  known  as  "  the  honest  shop,"  and  he  has  now 
been  able  to  start  branch  establishments  in  other 
places.  Men  like  these  are,  in  their  way,  also 
pioneers  of  Christianity,  and  very  valuable  ones ;  for 
7iative  Christians  in  a  good  social  iJosition  are  at  pre- 


190        Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

sent  very  mucli  needed  in  the  Indian  Cliurclies  *  The 
circumstances  of  out^yard  comfort  in  which — even 
in  hard  times — the  members  of  Christian  Churches 
live,  are  in  some  places  beginning  to  attract  the 
notice  of  the  heathen  dwelling  around. f 

How  much  Indian  Protestant  missionaries  are 
striving  to  come  to  a  clearer  understanding  on  this 
and  other  important  questions — the  internal  organi- 
sation of  w^ork,  the  employment  of  native  assistants 
(of  whose  mistaken  adoption  of  European  dress  and 
habits  mention  has  already  been  made),  the  train- 
ing, settlement,  and.  direction  of  native  evangelists, 
preachers,  and  teachers,  the  formation  of  churches, 
the  raising  of  the  natives  to  independence — has  been 
shown  by  the  proceedings  of  the  Allahabad  Confer- 
ence, and  by  its  endeavours  to  arrive  at  firmly- estab- 
lished principles  common  to  all  nations. 

Too  much  haste  has  often  been  made  in  applying 
to  the  Indian  Churches,  even  in  their  minutest  de- 
tails, the  administrative  forms  and  laws  of  the  deno- 
minations at  home,  instead  of  resting  content  with 
fundamental  principles  at  first,  leaving  the  special 
points  to  regulate  themselves,  in  accordance  with  the 

*  Sec  Allgcmeine  Missions- Zeitsclirift,  1876,  p.  26. 

+  Thus  in  Madura.  See  Miss.  Mag.  of  Calw.,  1879,  p.  48. 
See  furtlier  particulars  regarding  the  position  of  missions  to  the 
outward  condition  of  native  Cliristians,  in  tlie  Transactions  of  the 
AUaliabad  Conference  and  tlie  Allgcmeine  Missions-Zeitschrift, 
1876,  p.  15,  ni' 


Theii''  Present  State.  1 9 1 

spirit  of  tlie  nation.  And  precisely  a  cultivated,  more 
than  a  barbarous  nation  may  legitimately  expect, 
that  a  missionary  should  thoroughly  enter  into  the 
manners,  views,  habits,  and  the  whole  spirit  and 
character  of  the  people,  as  these  have  been  histori- 
cally developed;  and  that,  in  matters  of  Church 
organisation,  he  should  respect  its  prejudices  so  far 
as  these  do  not  stand  in  contradiction  with  the 
Gospel.  The  aim  of  all  missions  in  India  should  be, 
to  create  an  independent  Church  in  the  future,  in 
form  neither  episcopal,  presbyterian,  nor  indepen- 
dent, but  the  outcome  of  the  national  spirit.  This, 
from  the  first,  has  been  too  little  kept  in  view. 
Hence  the  dissatisfaction  existing  amon^:^  the  native 
preachers,  and,  one  may  say,  among  educated  heathen 
converts  generally,  at  the  lack  of  brotherliness  in  the 
relations  of  the  missionaries  to  each  other.  And  this 
is  beoinnincr  to  be  recognised,*  as  was  high  time  it 
should.  For  now,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  South, 
that  the  people  are  coming  over  to  Christianity  in 
masses,  the  question  as  to  the  formation  of  a  Pro- 
testant National  Indian  Church  must  become  ever 
more  and  more  a  burning  one.  In  India  especially, 
which  is  under  Christian  European  direction,  non- 
denationalisation  should  be  kept  in  view. 

*  Cf .  the  address  of  the  missionary  Mr.  Barton  (Church  Missionary- 
Society)  at  the  Allahabad  Conference  ;  AUgemeine  Missions-Zeit- 
schrift,  1876,  p.  30,  5^2.;  Graul,  as  before  quoted,  p.  147,  sgg.  155. 


192         Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

But  with  all  the  imperfection  and  the  necessity  for 
a  further  extension  of  the  missionary  system  hitherto 
pursued,  the  results  above  stated,  and  the  recent  pro- 
gress of  success,  are  very  remarkable. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten,  amidst  the  much  that 
calls  for  criticism,  that  the  moral  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity in  India,  as  throughout  China,  is  sustained 
only  by  the  missionaries.  "  But  for  the  English 
missionaries,"  says  the  "  Friend  of  India "  (a  secular 
organ),  "  the  natives  of  India  would  have  a  very  poor 
opinion  of  Englishmen.  The  missionary  alone,  of  all 
Englishmen,  is  the  representative  of  a  disinterested 
desire  to  elevate  and  improve  the  people."  *  And 
a  Hindoo  of  high  position  said  a  short  time  ago 
to  a  missionary's  wife  nearly  related  to  myself, 
"  You  missionaries  are  the  only  persons  in  whom  we- 
really  have  confidence."-|*  They  are  thus  forming 
an  ever  more  important  bond  of  connection  between 
the  unpopular  English  Government  and  the  Indian 
people.  And  since  the  last  famine,  when  the  self- 
sacrificing  labours  of  the  missionaries  were  so  conspi- 
cuously displayed,  confidence  has  greatly  increased. 

*  See. The  Christian,  April  3,  1879,  p.  5. 

t  The  same  is  testified  by  Professor  Williams,  see  **  Indian 
Female  Evangelist,"  July  1879,  p.  336.  Cf.,  too,  the  testimony  of 
the  well-known  IJrahmist,  Kosliub  Chunder  Sen,  given  recently 
in  a  public  speech  of  his,  in  Calcutta,  on  **  Who  is  Christ  ?"  refer- 
ring to  the  de])t  of  gratitude  which  India  owes  to  the  missionaries 
for  their  self-devotion.  See  "  Indian  Christian  IIcraM,"  1879,  Nos. 
7  and  8,  and  "Allgemeine  Missions-Zcitschrift,"  1879,  p.  416,  sqri. 


Their  Present  State.  1 9  3 

Numbers  of  people  may  be  heard  exclaiming,  to  the 
annoyance  of  the  Brahmins,  "  Our  own  people  did 
nothing  for  us,  and  were  it  not  for  the  generosity 
of  Christians,  more  than  half  of  us  would  have 
perished !  Christians  worship  the  true  God  and 
are  in  possession  of  the  true  religion,  whereas  our 
countrymen  worship  false  gods  and  observe  false 
religions."* 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  more  persons  in 
India  with  friendly  dispositions  towards  Christianity 
than  missionary  statistics  would  lead  us  to  suppose. 
There  are  many  secret  believers  who  shrink  from 
making  an  open  confession,-|-  and  who,  on  their 
deathbeds,  surprise  the  missionary  by  their  faith  in 
Christ.  Idol  worship  is  more  and  more  sinking  in 
public  estimation.  Brahminism  is  undergoing — as 
is  becoming  ever  more  evident — a  complete  process 
of  decomposition.  An  irresistible  spiritual  revolu- 
tion is  taking  place  in  India,  which  owes  its  origin 
not  wholly  to  missions,  but  also  to  the  enlightening 
influence  of  schools  and  of  science,  to  the  humane 
spirit  of  law  and  government — dispensing  justice 
equally  to  all — and  to  the  example  and  the  unob- 
trusive influence  of  the  Christian  household.     The 


*  London  Missionary  Society's  Report  for  1879,  p.  15.  According 
to  this  report,  the  influence  of  caste  has  been  much  shaken  by  the 
behaviour  of  the  heathen  during  the  famine. 

t  The  Women  of  India,  p.  20. 

N 


194         P^'otestant  Foreign  JMissions : 

old  stereotyped  ideas  are  being  gradually  dispelled.* 
Even  in  Benares  there  is  growing  up  an  educated 
class,  which  is  no  longer  inclined  to  remain  under 
the  spiritual  yoke  of  the  past ;  in  whose  eyes  a  reli- 
gion with  many-headed  gods  and  figures,  the  holy 
well  and  the  sacred  stream,  have  lost  all  the  magic 
of  romance.  And  if  a  people  he  better  than  its 
gods,  worship  is  at  an  end ! 

The  Hindoos  themsehes  feci  and  know  that  their 
religion  must  inevitaUy  perish.  Hence  the  growing 
restlessness  which  has  now  laid  hold  of  the  masses.-f 
Hence,  too,  those  attempts  to  support  the  old  faith, 
by  a  fusion  of  different  worships,  which  generally 
precedes  the  extinction  of  a  religion.  These  are,  how- 
ever, as  shortlived  as  they  are  numerous.  The  most 
recent  of  them — the  Brahmo-Samadsh — was  but  still- 
born ;  its  dissolution  has  already  begun.  Yet,  in  its 
own  manner  it  must  prepare  the  way  for  Christianity. 
Its  founder,  Kesiiub  Ciiunder  Sen,  was  obliged  to 
confess  years  ago,  "The  spirit  of  Christianity  has 
already  pervaded  the  whole  atmosphere  of  Indian 
society,  and  we  breathe,  think,  feel,  and  move  in 
a  Christian  atmosphere. "  Native  society  is  being 
roused,  enlightened,  and  reformed  under  the  infiu- 


*  Cf.  tlie  Report  of  the  London  Missionary  Soeicty  as  early  as 
1871,  pp.  49-51- 

t  See  the  accounts  by  Rev.  Mr.  Jenkins,  MilJmay  Conference, 
p.  167,  sqq. 


Their  Present  State.  195 

eace  of  Cliristianity  !"*  And  the  same  half-heathen, 
half- Christian  rhetorician  crowned  his  testimony, 
not  long  ago,  with  the  confession,  "  Our  hearts  are 
touched,  conquered,  overcome  hy  a  Higher  Poiver. 
And  this  Poiver  is  Christ.  Christ,  not  the  British 
Government,  rules  India  !  No  one  hut  Christ  has 
desei'ved  the  precious  diadem  of  the  Indian  croiv7i, 
and  He  ivill  have  it  ! "  -[•  With  good  reason  Max 
MuLLER  said  to  the  late  Norman  M'Leod,  "From 
what  I  know  of  the  Hindoos,  they  seem  to  me  riper 
for  Christianity  than  any  nation  that  ever  accepted 
the  Gospel."  :|: 

We  hurry  past  those  commencements  of  missions 
on  the  peninsula  of  Malacca,  where,  unfortunately, 
Islam  preceded  the  Gospel,  and  which,  with  its  large 
Chinese  pojDulation,  formed  an  important  outpost  for 
Chinese  missions,  so  long  as  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Middle  itself  remained  shut.  The  work  is  now 
being  continued  in  the  north  (Tenasserim)  by  the 
American  Baptists  and  Presbyterians,  and  in  the 
south  (Singapore)  by  the  Propagation  Society.  Nor 
do  w^e  more  than  name  Siam  and  Laos,  where  the 
American  Presbyterians  have  founded  small  congre- 
gations, partly  in  Bangkok  on  the  coast,  and  partly 

*  Lecture  on  tlie  Future  Church  ;  see,  too,  the  London  Missionary 
Society's  Report,  1870,  p.  33. 

t  See  extract  of  this  remarkable  speech  in  the  Allgemeine  ]\Iis- 
sions-Zeitschrift,  1879,  p.  147. 

X  See  Evangelical  Christendom,  June  1S76,  p.  178. 


196         Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

already  far  inland,  in  Chiengmai.*  Here,  however, 
owing  to  the  caprice  of  a  despotic  ruler,  the  blood 
of  martyrs  has  been  freely  shed.-|- 

With  China  we  reach,  as  is  w^ell  known,  the  largest 
and  most  thickly-peopled  heathen  land  in  the  world, 
whose  population,  however,  within  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  by  famine,  plague,  and  rebellion,  has  been 
considerably  lessened.  The  number  of  its  inhabitants 
used  generally  to  be  estimated  at  400  or  430  millions, 
but  many  travellers  now  put  down  the  number  at 
a  considerably  smaller  figure.J  By  the  Treaty  of 
Nanking  (1842),  at  the  close  of  the  first  opium  war, 
five  harbours,  and,  by  that  of  Tientsin  (i860),  which 
ended  the  second,  the  whole  interior  of  China  was 
thrown  open  to  commercial  and  missionary  enter- 
prise, so  that  it  is  only  since  very  recent  times  that 
any  extensive  missionary  operations  have  been  carried 
on  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Middle.  The  opening  up 
of  the  land  by  force,  in  the  interest  of  a  heartless 
and  much-to-be-deplored  commercial  policy,  making 
every  European  appear  as  if  prosecuting  his  own 
selfish  aims ;  the  shortness  of  the  time  during  which 

*  See  Report  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Cliurch,  1879,  p.  56,  tfiri,  InSiam  altogether,  133  communi- 
cants ;  in  Laos,  31. 

t  Sec  Foreign  Missionary  (American  Presbyterian  Clmrch),  March 
1879  ;  Calw.  Mission.  Magaziu.  1878,  p.  30,  sqq. 

X  According  to  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Taylor,  as  only  240,000,000, 
Mildmay  Conference,  p.  21 1.  In  several  provinces  the  present 
population  amounts  only  to  one-fifth  to  what  it  used  to  be. 


Their  Present  State.  197 

missionary  labour  lias  been  carried  on  in  the  midst  of 
a  country  totally  strange ; — the  immense  hindrances 
which  lie  in  the  country  itself,  in  the  people,  speech, 
manners,  religion,  and  policy  of  China,  with  her 
petrified  constitution  and  culture  of  three  thousand 
years — infinitely  conducive  to  the  increase  of  hea- 
then self-conceit  —  and  her  popular  life  entirely 
directed  by  practical  materialism  and  eudaimonism ; 
— all  this  would  completely  justify  the  results  of 
Protestant  missions  being  as  yet  but  small. 

But  it  is  not  so.  The  older  missionary  societies 
recognised  the  importance  of  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin  for 
the  evangelisation  of  the  world ;  and  whilst,  in  former 
times,  they  were  able  to  touch  the  immense  empire 
only  at  one  or  two  points  on  the  coast,  during  the 
last  eighteen  years  they  have  quadrupled  the  number 
of  their  agents,  and  drawn  many  sister  societies  into 
the  field  along  with  them.  At  the  present  day  there 
are  26  missionary  societies  (including  Bible  societies, 
29),  with  240  or  250  ordained  missionaries  and  63 
female  teachers  at  work  there,*  and  the  number  is 
constantly  increasing.  Of  this  number,  1 3  societies, 
with  78  married,  and  44  unmarried  missionaries, 
fall  to  England  (the  Church  Missionary  Society  with 
20  agents,  then  the  London,  the  Wesleyan,  several 


*  See  Records  of  the  General  Missionary  Conference  at  Shanghai, 
1877.  Professor  Legge,  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  171.  Christlieb, 
"The  Indo-British  Opium  Trade  and  its  Effect,"  1878,  p.  61,  sgj. 


198         Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

Presbyterians  of  Scotland  and  England,  the  Pro- 
pagation Society  Avith  only  2,  more  especially  the 
China  Inland  mission  with  49  missionaries  and  20 
independent  female  teachers) ;  1 1  to  America,  witli 
yy  married,  and  16  unmarried  missionaries,  and  40 
female  teachers  (the  An.erican  Board,  with  17  mis- 
sionaries, 3  medical  missionaries  (two  of  them  ladies) ; 
the  Episcopal  Methodist,  with  9  missionaries  and  9 
assistants,*  the  Free  Baptists,  American  Missionary 
Association,  Dutch  Eeformed,  American  Lutheran,' 
&c,);  and  only  two  to  the  Continent  of  Ettrope,  with 
22  married,  and  4  unmarried  missionaries,  viz.,  the 
Basel  and  the  Barmen  Societies,  with  the  latter  of 
which  the  Berlin  China  mission  was  incorporated  a 
few  years  ago. 

These  forces  are  distributed  among  91  central  and 
5 1 1  outlying  stations.  The  palpable  result  of  their 
labours  has,  up  till  recently,  been  often  under-esti- 
mated. The  number  of  communicants  used  to  be 
regarded  as  representing  the  sum  total  of  those  who 
belonged  to  Protestant  Churches.  On  this,  however, 
light  was  tlirown  at  the  Mildmay  Conference  in 
the  autumn  of  1878,  by  Professor  Leggp:,  one  of 
those  wlio  have  laboured  longest  in  China,  and  by  the 
Pev.  Hudson  Taylor,  wlio  lias  more  than  once 
travelled  through  the  whole  of  the  Celestial  Empire.f 

*  See  the  last  Annual  Reports  of  these  societies. 

t  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  171,  8(jiq.,  and  the  Monthly  Magazine 


Their  Present  State.  1 99 

According  to  their  representations,  there  were  in 
1877,  in  these  stations,  as  many  as  312  or  318  Pro- 
testant Chinese  churches  (of  which  18  were  already 
completely  self-sustaining,  and  243  partially  so),  with 
13,144  (according  to  more  recent  accounts,  13,515) 
communicants  and  about  50,000  adherents  of  the  Pro- 
testant Church.  The  first-mentioned  congregations 
contribute  the  sum  of  ;^4000  annually  for  the 
support  of  their  churches  and  missions,  or  6s.  per 
head.  Among  them  there  are  labouring  at  present 
73  native  ordained  pastors  and  preachers,  511  assis- 
tant preachers,  71  colporteurs,  and  90  Bible- women. 
These  societies  and  churches  support  20  theological 
schools  with  231  students,  30  higher  boarding-schools 
for  boys  with  611  scholars,  38  for  girls  with  J'jy 
scholars,  177  day-schools  for  boys  with  4000  to  5000 
in  attendance,*  82  for  girls  with  1307  pupils.  The 
16  missionary  hospitals  and  24  dispensaries  are 
under  the  direction  of  the  medical  missionaries. 

What  a  difference  since  1843,  when  the  number 
of  converts  amounted  only  to  six !  I  ask  then.  Is  it 
reasonable,  with  such  results  before  us,  about  the 
reality  of  which  there  can  be  no  dispute — they  are 
collected   from   statistics   compiled   May    1877 — to 

of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  '*  China's  Millions;"  see  various 
numbers  of  the  last  two  years. 

*  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  171,  misprints  the  numljer  of  day- 
schools  as  299  ;  see  below,  the  statistics  of  the  schools  of  the 
several  provinces. 


200         Protestant  For eio-n  Missioiis : 


<b 


maintain  that  missionary  methods  pursued,  for  a 
few  years  only,  have  made  no  substantial  progress 
in  China ;  or  is  Dr.  Legge  right  when  he  says,  "  The 
results  already  attained  are  a  sufficient  justification 
of  our  missionary  efforts  there,  and  our  expectation 
of  their  final  and  complete  success  "  ?  * 

The  Eoman  Catholic  mission  had,  in  1876,  404,530 
adherents  in  China,-|-  with  a  yearly  increase  of  about 
2000  souls ;  \  but  this  is  the  result  of  nearly  three 
liundred  years'  labour.  If  Protestant  missions,  whose 
converts  have  within  thirty-five  years  increased  two- 
thousandfold,  progress  at  the  same  rate,  there  will  be, 
in  191 3,  in  China,  26  million  communicants  and  about 
100  million  Protestant  Christians.  § 

If  now  we  notice  for  a  moment  how  those  centres 
of  Gospel  light  are  divided  in  the  great  empire,  we 
find  that  they  are  partly  studded  along  the  cast  coast, 
up  from  Hong-Kong  and  Canton  to  the  frontiers  of 
IManchuria  in  the  north ;  partly  that  they  advance 
year  by  year  ever  forwards  into  the  interior ;  whilst 
the  western  provinces  are,  as  yet,  as  good  as  un- 
touched by  the  Gospel. 

In  the  Province  of  Kivang-tung,  opposite  which 
lies  the  English  possession  of  Honfj-Konrj,  we  find 


*  As  above  quoted,  p.  169. 

t  According  to  tlie  Bulletin  des  Missions  Catliolic^ucs  for  1876. 

X  According  to  Dr.  Legge,  as  above  quoted,  p.  174. 

§  Dr.  Legge,  as  above  quoted,  p.  177. 


Their  Present  State,  20 1 

German  societies  at  work  on  the  island  itself  and  on 
the  mainland  (Canton,  its  capital) ;  the  Basel  society 
with  four  principal  stations,  the  number  of  whose 
communicants  received  a  greater  increase  last  year 
than  ever  before  (it  numbers  now  1827  baptized 
converts) ;  Barmen,  with  five  stations  (the  centre  of 
its  work  is  now  Canton),  and  from  800  to  900  Chris- 
tians (in  1877,  740),  both  making  the  similar  expe- 
rience, that  the  race  of  the  Hakkas  is  incomparably 
more  accessible  than  that  of  the  Puntis.  In  addition 
to  these  we  have  the  Foundling  Hospital,  Bethesda, 
of  the  Berlin  Ladies'  Society,  in  Hong-Kong.*  Be- 
sides there  is  a  whole  host  of  English  (Church  Mis- 
sionary, London,  English  Presbyterian,  Wesleyan) 
and  American  (Presbyterian  and  Baptist)  societies. 
To  sum  up,  there  are  here  about  50,  including  Hong- 
Kong  62,  European  and  American  missionaries  and 
medical  missionaries;  of  these  there  are  28  in  Canton 
(where  there  are  now  14  chapels,  with,  for  the  most 
part,  a  daily  service) ;  9  in  Swatow,  &c.,  with  alto- 
gether 146  native  assistants  on  9  central  and  Z2  out- 
lying stations.-(-  In  35  organised  churches  there  are 
altogether  3190  communicants,  with  JJ  day-schools 

*  For  further  particulars  as  to  the  latter,  see  the  quarterly  and 
annual  "Reports  of  the  Berlin  Ladies'  Association  for  China." 

t  These  and  the  figures  of  the  other  provinces  are  taken  from  the 
statements  of  the  Rev.  H.  Taylor,  Mildmay  Conference,  pp.  247- 
254. 


202         Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

and  21 13  scholars.  Beyond  this,  both  northwards 
and  in  the  interior,  there  are  only  English  and 
American  missions. 

With  the  sea-boarded  Province  Fah-hien,  we  enter 
on  the  most  fruitful  of  China's  mission  fields.  Here 
we  find  in  Amoy  the  London  Missionary  Society  and 
the  English  Presbyterians,  with  the  (Dutch)  Pteformed 
Church  of  America ;  and  farther  to  the  north,  in  Fu- 
chau,  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  the  Episcopal 
Methodist  Church,  and  the  American  Board.  Though 
their  missionaries  number  altogether  only  38,  the 
native  assistants  amount  to  320,  with  the  above- 
mentioned  2  central  and  273  outlying  stations. 
There  are  already  173  congregations  with  5247 
communicants,  and  149  schools  with  2131  scholars, 
all  in  active  operation.  Of  the  twelve  larger  towns 
of  Fu,  ten  are  occupied,  but  of  the  sixty-five  Nien 
or  county-towns,  by  far  the  larger  part  is  without 
any  missionary.  On  Formosa,  which  lies  off  this 
coast,  the  English  Presbyterians — to  whose  assistance 
the  newly-formed  Canadian  Presbyterian  mission 
has  recently  come — twelve  years  ago  opened  a  very 
fiourisliing  mission,  which  now  has  13  congregations 
for  Chinese  and  13  for  the  original  inhabitants,  with 
about  1 000  baptized  converts  and  at  least  3000  ad- 
herents. The  Canadians  have  been  able,  within  five 
years,  to  found  9  congregations,  and  have  translated 


Their  Present  State.  203 

the  New  Testament  into  the  primitive  language  *  in 
Latin  letters. 

Next  in  position  and  in  the  number  of  its  converts 
comes  the  province  Cheh-kiang  with  Ningpo,  farther 
up  the  coast,  where  missionary  work  was  interrupted 
for  a  time  by  the  Eebellion.  This  field,  like  that  in 
Fu-Kien,  is  now  full  of  promise.  In  Ningpo  alone 
18  missionaries  are  now  at  work;  in  Hang-chau  12, 
&c. ;  altogether  45  missionaries  with  150  native 
assistants,  throughout  1 1  principal  and  94  outlying 
stations.  There  have  been  already  56  congregations 
organised,  with  altogether  upwards  of  1800  com- 
municants, and  61  schools  with  1026  scholars. 
Among  the  chief  representatives  of  English  and 
American  missions,  in  this,  the  smallest  province  of 
China,  are — the  London  China  Inland  Mission — 
which  includes  in  its  sphere  several  chief  depart- 
ment-towns— and  the  American  Presbyterians,  who 
have  here  7  missionaries,  1 1  ordained  native  preachers, 
17  evangelists,  39  national  assistants,  14  congrega- 
tions, 734  communicants,  and  34  chapels.f  Besides 
these  are  the  Southern  Presbyterians  and  Baptists, 
the  Church  Missionary  Society,  and  others.  It  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 


*  Taylor,  as  above  quoted,  and  "  Der  Cliristliclie  Apologete," 
May  5,  1879. 

t  Keport  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  1879,  p.  69. 


204         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

made  many  converts  from  the  numerous  vegetarians 
who  inhabit  this  province.* 

Still  advancing  northwards  we  come  to  the  Fro- 
vince,  Kiang-Su,  with  its  most  important  centres  of 
missionary  labour  in  Shanghai  and  Nanking,  Suchau 
and  Chin-kiang.  Here  there  are  5  central  and  28 
outlying  stations,  37  missionaries  with  64  native 
helpers.  Nineteen  organised  congregations  with  to- 
gether 780  communicants,  74  schools  with  1576 
scholars,  are  the  first-fruits  of  this  labour.  But  the 
soil  is  here,  especially  in  Shanghai,  considerably  less 
productive  than  that  in  Cheh-kiang;  the  other  stations 
are  comparatively  young.  Somewhat  less  extensively 
occupied  is  the  Province  Shan-tung,  Besides  Che- 
foo  and  Tung-chau  and  one  or  two  other  places, 
only  1 3  outlying  stations  have  been  occupied  in  it 
by  missions -|-  since  the  year  i860.  Considering  the 
shortness  of  tlie  time,  and  tlie  fewness  of  the  labourers 
(28  missionaries  and  25  native  assistants),  very  en- 
couraging progress  has  been  made,  when  already  14 
congregations,  with  upwards  of  800  communicants, 
26  schools  with  534  scholars,  can  be  shown.  Ac- 
cording to  the  latest  reports  of  the  American  Pres- 

*  Report  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  tlie  rres])yterian 
Church,  1879,  p.  68. 

t  According  to  tlie  statistics  of  the  Shanghai  Conference,  1877  ; 
others  mention  34  outlying  stations,  owing  to  their  in(;luding  many 
outlying  stations  of  Peking,  i.e.,  of  the  province  Chi-li ;  Taylor, 
as  above  f|uoted,  p.  251,  note. 


Their  Present  State.  205 

byterians,  the  people  in  Shan-tung  are  "  remarkably 
disposed  to  receive  the  truth."  *  Similar  accounts, 
too,  are  given  by  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
and  the  Methodist  New  Connexion,  who  are  there 
engaged  in  labour. -|- 

The  most  northerly  of  the  provinces  along  the 
coast  of  China  proper  is  the  important  Chi-li,  with 
Peking  and  Tientsin.  The  total  number  of  labourers 
here  is  46  missionaries  and  medical  missionaries, 
with  58  native  helpers,  in  4  principal  and  36  outly- 
ing stations,  of  which  there  are  in  Peking  alone  29, 
in  Tientsin  9,  &c.  The  town  of  Kalgan,  which  lies 
close  to  the  great  wall  of  China,  forms  the  basis  of 
missionary  operations  among  the  Mongols  across 
the  boundary.  In  Peking  the  London  Missionary 
Society  has  perhaps  the  largest  Protestant  congre- 
gation, with  which  a  missionary  hospital  is  connected. 
The  American  Board  has  two  smaller  churches, 
several  schools,  and  a  missionary  press.  There  are 
further,  in  the  capital  of  China,  representatives  of 
the  Church  Missionary  Society,  the  Episcopal 
Methodist,  and  the  American  Presbyterian  Church. 
Altogether  this  province  has  to  show  23  organised 
churches  with  12 17  communicants,  and  47  schools 
with  756  scholars.     As  throughout  all  China,  the 

*  Report,  1879,  p.  63.  In  1878  there  was  an  increase  of  114 
communicants. 

t  See  Chronicle  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  March  1879, 
P-  57,  S22- 


2o6        Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

proportion  of  scholars  to  schools  is  here  comparatively 
smaller  than  in  the  other  fields  of  missionary  labour 
— a  proof  of  the  continued,  paramount  influence  of 
tlie  higher  and  lower  heathen  schools. 

Of  the  inland  provinces  of  the  empire,  Hu-peh 
with  Ran-hiu — where  the  London  Missionary  Society 
has  a  very  fruitful  field  * — and  other  tow^ns,  has 
most  missionary  agencies :  5  stations  and  6  outlying 
stations,  with  21  missionaries  and  13  native  assis- 
tants, 7  organised  congregations  w4th  627  com- 
municants, 1 1  schools  and  245  scholars ;  w^hilst  in 
the  province  of  Gcui-hivuy,  w^ith  its  4  missionaries 
and  17  assistants,  evangelistic  work  is  yet  in  its 
infancy,  as  it  also  is  in  Kiang-si,  with  8  missionaries 
and  7  to  8  assistants. 

Lying  without  the  eighteen  provinces  of  China 
proper — of  which  nine  are  as  yet  untouched  by  mis- 
sionary efforts — we  find,  in  the  north-east  of  Peking, 
in  a  province  of  Manchuria,  SlLing-king,  one  of  two 
foreposts  of  Protestant  missions,  three  agents  of  the 
Irish  Presbyterian  Church  and  of  the  United  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Scotland,  two  stations  with  six 
outlying  stations  and  several  schools  and  small 
congregations. 

But  more  important  than  all  statistical  details  is 
the  fact,  that,  according  to  the  Che- f 00  Convention, 

*  See  Report  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  1879,  \).  10,  sqq. 


Theij'  Pi^eseitt  State.  207 

in  consequence  of  tlie  murder  of  Mr.  jMargaey,  the 
Chinese  authorities  have  been  compelled  to  grant 
to  all  foreigners  liberty  to  travel  tlirougliout  the  loliole 
empire.  As  a  result  of  this,  China  has,  within  the 
last  few  years,  been  traversed  in  all  directions  by 
missionaries,  who  testify  to  the  readiness  with  which 
the  people  of  the  interior  accept  Christian  books 
and  tracts.  Mr.  McCarthy  may  here  be  specially 
mentioned  (of  the  China  Inland  Mission),  who, 
with  a  companion,  made  an  evangelistic  journey 
throughout  the  whole  land — preaching  even  to 
Margary's  murderers — and  unmolested  found  his 
way  to  Burmah.*  He  says : — "  The  people  of  the 
interior  are  prepared  to  hear  the  Gospel.  The 
former  difficulties  are  to  a  great  extent  removed. 
During  a  journey  of  3000  miles  in  China,  I  was 
not  called  on  once  to  present  my  passport,  nor  had 
I  any  occasion  to  appeal  to  a  magistrate  for  aid  of 
any  kind.  Yet  in  every  city,  town,  and  village 
through  which  I  passed,  I  was  enabled  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  large  numbers  of  people."  *(• 

What  a  door  has  now  been  here  thrown  open ! 
A  missionary  of  the  Irish  Presbyterians  travelled 
for  a  thousand  miles,  preaching  as  he  went,  through 
Manchuria,  till,  arriving  at  the  Paissian  frontier,  he 

*  See  his  owii  statements  at  the  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  255, 
sqq. 

t  Ibid.,  I).  256. 


2o8        Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

came  upon  a  Greek  missionary  station.  In  many 
houses  lie  found  a  good  and  simple  catechism  of 
Christian  doctrine,  which  had  been  drawn  up  by 
the  Kussian  missionaries.*  And  so  the  golden 
chain  of  Christian  truth  is  linked  together  from 
one  end  of  Asia  to  the  other. 

Looking  now  at  the  internal  condition  of  the  mis- 
sions, we  are  assured  by  so  great  an  authority  as  Dr. 
Legge,  that  the  missionaries  and  the  missions  of  the 
Protestant  Churches  are  held  in  higher  estimation^ 
among  the  people  and  the  governing  elasses,  than  those 
of  the  Eoman  Catholics.-f*  Not  that  we  would  in 
any  way  wish  to  detract  from  the  success  of  the 
latter,  or  question  the  sincerity  of  their  faith,  which 
in  many  cases  has  been  sealed  with  their  own 
blood.  But  from  their  false  policy,  as  in  France,  of 
claiming,  even  in  civil  matters,  certain  rights  over 
their  converts, — a  policy  held  in  detestation  by  the 
Chinese  authorities, — from  their  celibacy  and  con- 
fessional, which  excite  so  much  suspicion  in  the 
Chinese, — from  their  dependence  on  the  Pope,  and 
the  not  less  distasteful  practice  of  extreme  unction, 
— from  all  these  Protestants  are  free,  and  thus  have 
brighter  prospects  in  the  future.  In  addition  to 
this  there  are  the  literary  labours  of  tlie  Protestant 

*  See  the  statements  of  the  Rev.  Fleming  Stevenson,  Mildmay 
Conference,  p.  219. 

t  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  1 75. 


Their  Present  State.  209 

mission  in  Cliina,  first  of  all  tlie  translation  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  which,  since  the  foundation  was 
laid  by  a  Moreisox  and  a  Milne,  has  been  gradu- 
ally so  improved,  that  the  copy  of  the  Bible  now 
circulated  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
will  bear  comparison  with  any  other  translation, 
as  regards  fidelity  of  contents  and  elegance  of 
style.  The  many  original  productions,  too,  of  the 
missionaries — such  as  Christian  books  and  tracts, 
interpretations  of  particular  parts  of  the  Bible, 
religious  and  general  periodicals,  which  have  found 
their  w^ay  from  the  south  to  Peking,  into  the  very 
palace  of  the  Emperor,  editions  of  Chinese  philo- 
sophers by  Protestant  missionaries, — all  these,  within 
such  a  short  time  too,  wdll  stand  comparison  with 
the  scientific  labours  of  the  Ptomish  Church.  Indeed, 
the  internal  progress  of  missionary  methods  in  China, 
by  means  of  literary  work,  is  very  remarkable.* 
The  German  missionary,  Dr.  Faber,  was  instructed 
a  short  time  ago  by  the  General  Missionary  Con- 
ference in  China  to  prepare  an  edition  of  the 
Chinese  classics,  with  notes  written  in  a  Christian 
apologetic  spirit.  Such  a  work  must  become, 
through  time,  an  indirect  means  of  gaining  over 
to  Christianity  this  land  of  culture,  for  which 
gifted  and  capable  labourers  are  especially  needed. 

*  For  further  particulars  see  Evangel.  Miss. -Magazin.  1879,   p. 
158,  822. 

0 


2  I  o         Protestant  Foreio-Ji  Missions : 

If  anywhere,  certainly  the  hcst  talent  should  be  sent 
to  China. 

The  brotherly  and  large-hearted  Catholicity  of 
the  missionaries  belonging  to  the  different  Protestant 
societies,  must  be  commended  as  an  hopeful  sign 
of  the  future.  For  example,  when  the  first  Pres- 
byterian Church  was  opened  in  Peking,  all  the  Pro- 
testant missionaries  there — Presbyterians,  Episcopa- 
lians, Wesleyans,  Independents,  with  their  native 
Christians — all  came  together  in  the  most  Christian 
spirit  to  witness  the  ceremony.  The  Presbyterian 
missionary  societies  have  even  combined,  all  of 
them,  to  form  a  Freshyterian  Uiiion,  with  a  common 
General  Synod.  The  native  Chinese  Christians,  how- 
ever weak  they  in  many  places  be,  will,  according 
to  Mr.  Fleming  Stevenson,  who  returned  in  1878 
from  a  journey  of  inspection  round  the  world, 
stand  comparison,  in  part,  with  the  best  communi- 
ties of  Christian  countries.  He  says,*  "  I  have  found 
nowhere  in  Christian  lands  men  and  women  of  a 
higher  type  than  I  met  with  in  China,  of  a  finer 
spiritual  experience,  of  a  higher  spiritual  tone,  or  of 
nobler  spiritual  life."  Many  bear  about  in  their 
bodies  scars  and  brand-marks  from  the  tortures 
whicli  tliey  liavc  had  to  suffer  on  account  of  the 
Gospel.f     "They   could   cut   off  our  heads,"  some 


*  Mildinay  Conference,  ]>]>.  220,  221. 

t  Kcv.  F.  T.  Turner,  iMililniay  Conrerence,  p.  258. 


Their  Present  State.  2 1 1 

grave  men  said  to  Mr.  Fleming  Stevenson,  *'but 
they  cannot  behead  Christ."  Even  recently  the  old 
hatred  of  foreigners  has  been  in  many  places  shown, 
which — as  against  a  Basel  station  the  other  day — 
breaks  out  always  in  the  form  of  partial  persecu- 
tion. 

Of  course  it  can  be  easily  understood  that,  in  a 
territory  of  so  wide  an  extent,  the  various  fields  will 
not  be  equally  productive.  In  the  great  sea-ports 
the  preaching  of  the  Word  finds  a  hard  soil.  But 
still  it  is  of  great  value  here,  for,  the  country  people 
coming  and  going,*  carry  the  good  seed  with  them 
and  help  to  scatter  it  abroad.  In  the  mterior  of  the 
land,  the  mass  of  the  people,  as  a  rule,  listen  to  the 
Gospel  with  much  less  prejudice.  During  the  last 
few  years,  however,  by  means  of  the  dreadful  famine 
in  North-East  China  (there  perished  by  it  about 
twelve  millions  of  human  beings  f),  God  has  been 
furrowing  the  ground  more  deeply  and  breaking 
more  effectually  a  defiant  national  pride.  Numbers 
of  children  offered  for  sale  at  a  few  dollars  per  head, 
exhumed  corpses  eagerly  devoured  as  food,  showed, 
of  a  sudden,  to  this  ancient  people  of  boasted  civili- 
sation— whose  common  peasantry  can  trace  back 
their  ancestry  further  than  any  of   our  princes  or 

*  According  to  the  Rev.  F.  Stevenson,  Mildraay  Conference, 
pp.  217,  218. 

t  See  Rev.  F.  Stevenson,  "Our  Mission  to  the  East,"  1878, 
P-3I. 


2 1 2         Protestant  Forcioii  Missions  : 

nobility — that  they  could   sink  back  again   to  the 
lowest  grade  of  morality,  to  cannibalism.* 

There,  as  shortly  before  in  India,  the  Christians 
had  a  splendid  opportunity  of  showing  the  supe- 
riority of  a  culture,  true,  ennobling,  renovating  to 
their  very  depths  mind  and  heart,  to  the  outward, 
superficial,  half  civilisation  of  China — the  grandeur 
of  Christian  love,  divinely  born  and  self- forgetting, 
compared  with  heathen  selfishness  unconcealed  by 
the  gloss  of  mere  outward  education.  And  the 
Christians  seized  the  opportunity.  Thousands  of 
pounds,  collected  in  Asia  and  especially  in  Eng- 
land, were,  through  the  missions,  distributed  to 
the  perishing,  with  such  self-sacrifice,  that  five 
missionaries  fell  victims  to  their  own  too  great 
exertions.-I-  And  the  aid  thus  rendered  by  the 
hand  of  Christian  charity,  in  glaring  contrast  to 
the  heartless,  oftentimes  dishonest,  conduct  of  the 
mandarins,  has  opened  the  eyes  of  thousands  to  the 
inward  majesty  of  Cliristianity ;  so  that  their  belia- 

*  See  Christlieb,  "  The  Indo-British  Opium  Trade  and  its 
KtTect,"  p.  43,  577. 

t  Tlie  "Sliangliai  Courier"  said,  witli  reference  to  this,  *'If  wc 
contrast  the  lal)ours  of  tliese  men  with  the  selfish  life  of  the  great 
masses  of  the  people,  we  arc  constrained  to  express  our  liighest 
admiration  and  gratitude  to  the  former,  and  be  thankful  to  liavc 
such  examples  given  us.  These  men  are  the  pioneers  of  civilisation 
and  of  Christianity,  and  have  fallen,  sword  in  hand,  on  the  field  of 
battle.  And  it  is  encouraging  to  see  that  fresh  volunteers  at  once 
hasten  to  fill  up  the  gap." 


Their  Present  State.  2  1 3 

viour  towards  the  strangers,  whom  they  had  been 
taught  from  their  youth  to  despise,  has  completely 
changed.  When  the  starving  Chinese  asked  tlie 
Christian  Samaritans,  who  journeyed  from  place  to 
place,  giving  them  assistance,  "  Whence  do  you 
come,  and  why  ?  Who  sends  us  this  ?  We  are 
quite  a  different  people,"  and  received  the  answer, 
"  We  come  from  Christian  lands ;  the  Christians 
wish  to  help  you  in  your  great  need ;  whether  you 
are  a  different  race  or  not,  we  are  all  the  children 
of  the  One  Great  Father," — completely  overcome, 
they  were  heard  to  exclaim,  "  This  is  new ;  we  have 
never  experienced  the  like  of  this  ! "  * 

"  The  distribution  of  gifts  of  Christian  charity 
through  the  missionaries,"  writes  Mr.  Forrest,  the 
British  Consul  in  Tientsin,  "  will  do  actually  more 
to  promote  the  opening  up  of  China  than  a  dozen 
wars."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  some  of  the  northern 
provinces,  like  Shang-tung,  seem  to  be  becoming 
more  accessible  to  the  Gospel,  hundreds  of  indi- 
viduals there  being  eager  for  Christian  instruction.-j- 

*  See  further  particulars  in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  1878,  p.  57,  s^r?.  ;  1879,  p.  8,  555. 

t  In  the  town  of  Chan-hua  (province  of  Shan-tung)  these  at 
present  number  300  to  400.  See  Chronicle  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society,  March  1879,  p.  57.  According  to  the  periodical, 
"  Spirit  of  Missions,"  a  large  and  splendid  temple  of  the  gods  was, 
in  a  district  of  the  north,  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  missionaries, 
as  a  token  of  gratitude.  They  at  once  turned  it  into  a  Christian 
church.  For  Mr.  Forrest's  report,  see  "China's  Millions,"  Novem- 
ber 1879,  p.  134,  s^2. 


2  1 4         Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

And  the  moral  effect  of  tins  practical  proof  of 
Christian  charity  is  the  more  cheering,  that  in  per- 
haps no  other  land  of  heathendom  has  belief  in  the 
unselfishness  of  Christian  love — the  Christians  are 
to  blame  for  it — been  made  so  difficult  as  in  China, 
which  groans  under  the  withering  curse  of  opium. 
Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that,  in  addition  to  all  the 
other  hindrances  which  the  work  of  evangelisation 
has  to  encounter,  there  was  added  here,  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  that  of  the  opium  trade. 
An  offence,  resulting  as  it  does  in  the  physical, 
moral,  and  spiritual  ruin  of  China,  great  enough  to 
make  a  heathen  disbelieve  for  ever  in  the  possi- 
bility of  any  good  intent  on  the  part  of  Christians. 
This  traffic  a  Christian  power  has  forced  upon  China, 
only  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  administration  of  India. 
China  hates  it,  and  has  begged  often  enough  for 
its  discontinuance  ;  fur  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Chinese,  by  the  curse  of  the  oj^ium  plague,  sink 
into  an  early  grave !  *  Now  at  last  the  Christian 
conscience  of  England  is  raising  a  protest,  ever 
louder  and  more  general,  against  this  crying  injus- 
tice.-f      How  far  it  will  be  attended  with  success 


*  See  Christlieb,  "The  Indo-Biitisli  Opium  Trade  and  its  Effect," 
]>p.  12,  sqq.,  37,  «77.,  63,  »77. 

t  At  the  close  of  the  addrcssfs  on  missions  at  Basel  (September 
5.  1879),  at  the  Seventh  General  Conference  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance,  the  follovNing  resolution,  proposed  by  myself,  su2)portcd 


Their  Pi'esent  State.  2  i  5 

cannot  be  predicted,  considering  the  critical  state 
in  which  Indian  finance  is  at  present  placed.  The 
prejudice  of  the  Chinese  against  all  that  comes  from 
England,  and  against  missions  in  general,  fostered 
though  it  be  by  the  opium  trade,  is  beginning  to 
give  way  since  Britain  came  to  the  help  of  the 
famine-stricken  districts.  The  Chinese  Government 
instructed  their  ambassador  in  London  to  return 
thanks  publicly  to  those  who  had  so  philanthro- 
pically  rendered  assistance.  "  The  preliminary  quar- 
rying of  stones,"  as  it  was  often  called,  is  now  being 
transformed  into  the  work  of  building. 

And  with  a  glance  at  Japan  we  close  this  survey 


by  the  Rev.  W.  Arthur  (London),  and  Herr  Th.  Necker  (Geneva), 
and  signed  also  by  the  Secretaries  of  the  English  Branch  of  the 
Evangelical  Alliance,  was  passed  unanimously  : — 

"That  this  Conference,  prompted  by  the  reports  laid  before  it 
as  to  the  present  state  of  Evangelical  Missions  in  China  and  India, 
expresses  its  full  sympathy  with  the  efforts  for  the  suppression  of 
the  opium  traific  which  have  been  made  during  many  years  past, 
and  desires  to  support  the  protests  against  this  trade  which  from 
time  to  time  have  been  raised  by  various  evangelical  and  missionary 
Churches,  and  by  many  distinguished  friends  of  Christian  missions. 

' '  The  Conference  unites  with  their  English  brethren  in  declaring 
this  long-established  trade  to  be  a  crying  injustice  against  China,  a 
cause  of  offence  which  deeply  injures  the  honour  of  the  Christian 
name,  both  in  Christian  and  heathen  countries,  and  especially  an 
immense  obstacle  to  the  spread  of  Christian  missionary  work. 

"The  Conference  feels  constrained  to  place  on  record  its  convic- 
tion that  a  change  in  the  policy  of  England  as  regards  this  traffic 
is  urgently  necessary,  and  it  instructs  its  President  to  bring  this 
Resolution  to  the  knowledge  of  Her  Majesty's  Secretary  of  State  for 
India." 


2 1 6        Protestant  Foreign  Alissions  : 

of  the  fields  of  Protestant  missionary  work.  On 
this  "  Land  of  the  Eising  Sun,"  thrown  open  by 
the  commercial  treaties  of  1854  and  1858  with 
America  and  England,  the  dawn  is  at  length  break- 
ing. In  1859  and  i860  Japan  was  first  entered  by 
Protestant  missionaries  from  America, — an  ordained 
missionary  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  three 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  and  three  of  the  Ptcformed 
Church  of  America.  The  work  began  with  instruc- 
tion in  government  and  private  schools,  where,  how- 
ever, permission  to  give  systematic  religious  teaching 
was  not  at  that  time  granted.*  Nor  from  1859  ^^ 
1 872  was  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  permitted  in 
public,  but  only  privately  in  houses.  Still  from  the 
schools  the  Christian  leaven  began  to  work.  Then 
the  Scottish  and  American  r)ible  Societies  becran  to 

o 

send  out  agents.  Chinese  Testaments  and  tracts 
speedily  found  a  wide  circulation,  large  chests  of  them 
being  often  sold  within  a  few  days.-f*  Soon  after- 
wards other  societies — American  (the  Boston  Ame- 
rican Board  in  1 869,  the  Episcopal  Methodists,  and, 
more  recently,  the  "  Evangelical  Union,"  Cleveland, 
Ohio),  Scottish  and  English — found  their  way  into 
Japan,  which,  with  its  unprecedentedly  quick  adoj)- 


*  According  to  the  report  of  tlic  Rev.  Dr.  Fcrri.s  (of  the  Refonin-d 
Church  of  America)  at  the  Mildniay  Conference,  p.  238,  sqq. 

t  According  to  Mr.  W.  Slowan,  of  tlie  National  l>ib]e  Society  of 
Scotland ;   Ibid.,  p.  260 ;  Ferris,  p.  243. 


Their  Present  State,  2  i  7 

tion  of  Western  civilisation  (agreed  to  in  1869),  was 
being  involuntarily  made  accessible  for  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel,  and  ever  less  able  to  enforce  the 
laws  formerly  enacted  against  Christianity.  But  the 
baptism  of  the  first  convert,*  in  1865,  although 
undisputed,  remained  for  some  time  the  solitary 
instance  of  the  kind. 

It  happened  in  January  1872,  during  the  week  of 
prayer,  that  one  or  two  Japanese  students,  who  had 
received  instruction  in  the  private  classes  of  the 
missionaries,  took  part  in  the  English  meeting  in 
Yokohama.  "  After  portions  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  had  been  read  and  explained,  they  fell  on 
their  knees,  and  were  heard  to  beseech  God  with 
tears  that  He  would  pour  out  His  Spirit  on  Japan, 
as  once  He  did  on  the  first  assembly  of  Apostles. 
These  prayers  were  characterised  by  intense  earnest- 
ness. Captains  of  men-of-war,  English  and  Ame- 
rican, who  witnessed  the  scene,  remarked,  '  The 
prayers  of  these  Japanese  take  the  heart  out  of  us.'  f 
Thus  the  first  Protestant  Church  in  Japan  was 
founded.  A  turning-point  had  been  reached."  One 
or  two  who  were  decided  came  forward  with  the 
confession  of  their  faith,  and  in  March  1872 
the    first    Japanese    congregation     of     1 1    converts 


*  See  Missionary  Magazine  of  Basel,  1866,  p.  352. 
■\  Rev.  Dr.  Ferris,  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  243. 


2 1 8         Protestant  Foreiorn  Missions : 


i> 


Avas  constituted  in  Yokohama.  Within  barely  six 
years  the  1 1  have  increased  to  1 200  communi- 
cants, forming  some  30  or  40  congregations.  Six 
stations  fall  to  the  American  Presbyterians,  and 
are  under  the  care  of  8  missionaries,  who  in  1878 
reported  an  increase  of  220  members,  making  the 
total  in  this  connection  now  632  full  members* 
How  much  quicker  has  success  been  here  than  in 
China ! 

The  missionaries  of  the  Preformed  and  Presby- 
terian Churches  of  America,  with  the  United  Pres- 
hyterians  of  Scotland,  formed  their  congregations 
into  a  Presbyte7nan  Union,  with  a  common  General 
Synod,  which  at  the  end  of  1878  included  17 
congregations,  with  700  adult  members.  In  the 
service  of  the  Union  there  are — under  the  over- 
sight of  the  missionaries — 5  or  6  Japanese  pastors, 
while  the  joint  theological  seminary  possesses  25 
students.-f  This  is  the  largest  and  strongest  Pro- 
testant body  in  Japan,  and  it  is  increasing,  especially 
in  the  capital,  Yedo  (or  now  Tokio),  and  in  Yoko- 
hama, and  contemplates  extending  the  work  as  far 
as  Corea.  Of  the  remaining  Protestants  in  Japan, 
the  greater  proportion  is  in  connection  with  the 
American  Board  in  and  around    Osaka  (south-west 


*  See  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the 
Prosbytcrian  Churcli,  1879,  p.  71. 

t  Kev.  Dr.  Ferris,  Mildiiiay  Conference,  pp.  243  244. 


Their  Present  State.  2  1 9 

from  Yeclo),  Kioto  (where  there  is  a  seminary,  pre- 
sided over  by  the  missionaries),  and  Kole.  Already 
3  principal  and  5  outlying  stations  have  been 
founded  with  10  congregations,  in  which  10  mis- 
sionaries, 4  medical  missionaries,  and  24  female 
teachers  are  engaged  in  work.  These  last  not  only 
teach  in  the  schools,  but  take  part  in  the  work  of 
evangelisation  with  great  success.  To  this  is  due 
the  fact — a  remarkable  one  in  a  mission  so  young — 
that  already  there  is  a  comparatively  large  number 
of  native  women  in  full  Church  membership.  Dele- 
gates of  this  society  formed  (in  January  1878)  a 
native  Missionary  Association  for  the  promotion  of 
the  work  of  evangelisation.* 

The  rest  of  the  Protestant  Christians  are  divided 
between  the  missionaries  belonging  to  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  (with  7 
stations ;  Yokohama,  Tokio,  Nagasaki,  Hakodate,  &c. ; 
7  missionaries,  12  native  assistants,  and  a  total  of 
about  200  members  -|-),  and  the  Baptist  Church,  all 
of  America ;  as  also  the  Propagation  (4  missionaries) 
and  Church  Missionary  Society,  in  connection  with 
which  last  there  are  in  five  stations  (especially 
Nagasaki,  their  oldest   station,  Tokio,   Osaka,  &c.). 


*  See  Annual  Report  of  American  Board,  1878,  pp.  85-92. 

t  According  to  Annual  Report  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
January  1878,  p.  160,  there  were  114  full  members  and  no  proba- 
tioners. 


2  20         Protestant  Forci'o^n  missions  : 

8  missionaries,  128  native  Christians,  and  4  schools.* 
The  English  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  too,  is 
about  to  commence  a  mission  of  its  own  in  Japan. 
Connected  with  these  missions,  there  are  about 
30  Christian  schools  for  girls  and  boys,  with 
upwards  of  800  scholars.  Nearly  every  mission  has 
what  may  be  called  a  High  School  for  girls,  and 
these  institutions  are  popular.  The  Gospels  have 
been  translated  into  Japanese,  and  thousands  of 
copies  distributed ;  the  translation  of  the  whole  of 
the  New  Testament  is  approaching  completion.  The 
committee  on  translation  is  composed  of  representa- 
tives of  nearly  all  the  missions.-|-  A  Christian 
magazine  is  published  monthly  by  the  American 
Board,  and  circulated  in  all  parts  of  the  land. 

Since  1878,  the  number  of  Protestant  ordained 
missionaries  in  Japan,  in  connection  with  10  Ame- 
rican and  British  societies,  has  increased  to  66,% 
of  the  unmarried  female  teachers  to  38.  The  re- 
gularly-organised Protestant  churches  now  amount 


*  Abstract  of  the  Report,  1879,  p.  18. 

+  See  Rev.  Dr.  Ferris,  MilJrnay  Conference,  p.  244.  Clnm-li 
Missionary  Intelligencer,  January  1879,  p.  58.  In  May  1878,  a 
general  Missionary  Conference  took  place  in  Tokio,  cliiclly  with  a 
view  to  introduce  a  uniform  translation  of  the  liil)le. 

t  Inclusive  of  the  missionaries'  wives,  the  medical  missionaries, 
and  the  independent  female  teachers,  the  total  number  of  Amc;- 
rican  and  European  workers  is  already  over  160.  See  Missionary 
Herald,  November  1879,  p.  441. 


Theij^  Present  Slate.  221 

to  44,  12  of  these  being  self-supporting  and  26 
partly  so.  There  are  1761  adult  communicants  and 
about  5000  Christians,  all  of  whom  are  everywhere 
being  trained  to  self-support  and  personal  activity. 
Along  with  9  ordained  pastors,  there  are  150  cate- 
chists  and  other  native  assistants  at  w^ork  in  the 
thirty-five  chief  stations  and  the  fifty-nine  out- 
lying ones,  while  in  the  three  theological  seminaries 
there  are  173  young  men  being  educated  for  the 
ministry.*  And  all  this,  be  it  remembered,  in  a 
country  the  government  of  which,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  after  it  had  driven  out 
the  Portuguese  and  massacred  the  native  (Catholic) 
converts,  prohibited  all  Christians,  under  pain  of 
death,  from  ever  setting  foot  on  its  soil,  and  in 
open  proclamation  declared,  that  even  if  the  King 
of  Portugal,  "  or  the  God  of  the  Christians  Him- 
self should  transgress  this  law,  he  would  pay  the 
penalty  with  his  head."  Now  ruined  Buddhist 
temples  supply  the  wood  for  the  erection  of  Chris- 
tian churches.-f-     Even  in  the  state  prisons   Chris- 

*  According  to  the  statistics  of  the  General  Missionary  Con- 
ference in  Tokio,  in  1878.  See  Church  Missionary  Intelligencer, 
January  1879,  p.  58;  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1879,  p. 
236.  Rev.  Dr.  Ferris,  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  243,  estimates  the 
aggregate  number  of  Japanese  Protestant  Christians,  in  1878,  at 
about  5000,  The  rapid  increase  of  church  members  is  proved  by 
the  following  figures  : — In  1872,  20  ;  1875,  538;  1876,  1004. 

t  Der  Christliche  Apologete,  May  5,  1879;  Der  Christliche 
Botschafter,  October  15,  1879. 


2  2  2         Protestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

tianity  has   found   an   entrance,  as  tlie   recognised 
means  of  reformation.* 

But  the  land  is  still  far  from  being  all  open. 
Missionaries  and  foreigners  of  every  kind  are  per- 
mitted to  reside  only  in  the  towns  mentioned 
in  the  treaties.  Special  permission  must  be  sought 
—  and  is  often  granted — to  dwell  elsewhere.  The 
old  laws  against  Christianity  have  not  yet  been 
repealed,  and  the  distrust  of  strangers  is  ever 
plainly  discernible  among  the  governing  classes.-f 
The  Buddhist  clergy,  provoked  by  the  missionary 
zeal  of  the  young  Christian  communities,  are — as 
a  counter-move  —  about  to  send  missionaries  to 
Europe  and  America,  for  the  purpose  of  propa- 
gating their  own  religion, |  and  some  of  our  modern 
philosophers  are  doing  their  utmost  to  prepare 
the  way  for  them.  A  Eusso-Greek  mission,  too,  is 
advancing  steadily  in  the  north,  having  already 
made  about  3000  converts.  But  among  the  edu- 
cated classes  here,  as  in  India,  it  is  scepticism,  with 
all  its  irreligious  influences,  imported  by  American 
and  European  teachers  into  the  state  schools  and 
universities  of  Japan,  where  it  now  predominates. 


*  Annual  Ke])ort  of  American  Board,  1878,]).  87;  Evangelistic 
Missionary  Magazine,  September  1879,  p.  388,  sqq. 

t  Annual  Report  of  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  1879,  p.  72,  sqq. 

X  Cf.  Allgemeine  cvangelischc  Luthcrischc  Kirchcn-Zeitung, 
April  II,  1879,  p.  359;  May  11,  p.  10. 


Their  Present  State.  223 

that  is  making  most  alarming  progress.*  Though 
the  priests  of  the  old  religious  systems  are 
openly  scoffed  at,  yet  there  is  here  a  new  and 
serious  hindrance  to  the  reception  of  the  Gospel. 
The  old  battle  at  home,  between  faith  and  unbelief, 
must  be  fought  over  again  afresh  here,  at  the  ex- 
tremest  frontier  of  the  Church,  on  the  ground  of 
heathen  civilisation. 

Yet  the  general  impression  left  by  this  mission, 
young  though  it  be,  is  a  very  hopeful  one.  After 
the  suppression  of  a  somewhat  serious  rebellion, 
reform  -|-  and  missionary  enterprise  are  proceeding 
quietly  on  their  way.  When,  then,  in  a  land  on 
the  throne  of  which  the  family  of  Mikado  has — in 
spite  of  one  or  two  storms — sat  for  twenty-five 
centuries  (a  circumstance  unexampled  in  history 
and  unparalleled  even  in  China ! ),  a  country  there- 
fore   not   much   given   to    change,  J   we    see   there, 

*  Cf.  the  remarkable  address  by  a  Japanese  candidate  on 
"Scientific  Education  in  Japan;"  Missionary  Herald,  October 
1879,  PP-  365-370. 

t  According  to  the  most  recent  proclamation  of  the  Prime 
Minister,  "the  religion  of  Japan  is  no  longer  to  be  looked  upon 
as  a  particular  and  large  partition  of  the  state,  but  merely  as  a 
branch  of  the  ministry  of  the  interior  "  (Allg.  ev.  luth.  Kirchen- 
Zeitung,  November  1879,  p.  1077),  which  very  probably  signifies 
the  gradual  withdrawal  of  government  support,  and  accordingly 
the  ruin  of  the  old  religions  of  the  land. 

+  Cf.  specially  the  treatise  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Clark,  ' '  Ten  Years  in 
Japan,"  Missionary  Herald,  November  1879,  p.  435,  sqq  ,  and  p. 
442.  The  present  emperor  of  Japan  is  the  121st  of  his  line  !  See 
H.  Stevenson,  "Our  Mission  to  the  East,"  1878,  p.  8. 


2  24         Protest  ant  Foreign  Missions: 

before  our  very  eyes,  in  a  few  years  so  many  new 
influences  making  way,  and  among  tliem  the  Gospel 
taking  such  deep  root,  we  may  then,  looking  at 
Japan,  as  over  the  whole  field  of  Protestant  mis- 
sionary labour,  exclaim,  with  thanks  to  God,  "  Yes, 
the  day  is  breaking  !  " 
And  now,  lastlv, — 


IV. — One  or  two  Hints  and  Wishes  with  re- 
gard TO  the  Duties  and  Aims  of  the 
Immediate  Future. 

These  we  shall  mention,  in  so  far  as  they  have 
been  gathered  during  our  long  wandering  through 
the  many  forms  of  Protestant  missionary  work,  and 
pressed  upon  us  by  a  consideration  of  the  relations 
in  which  tlie  different  societies  stand  to  one  another. 

The  present  condition  of  missionary  labour  shows 
that  those  who  prosecute  it,  though  they  have  learned 
much,  have  much  still  to  learn.  First  of  all,  the 
friends  of  missions  at  home,  in  pronouncing  judgment 
on  the  missionary  operations  of  the  present  day,  must 
remember  that  the  work  is  the  greatest  and  most  diffi- 
cult in  tlie  world.  If  on  a  question  of  missionary 
enterprise  a  I*aul  and  a  Barnabas  could  part  "in 
sharp  contention  "  (Acts  xv.  39),  we  must  not  wonder 
when,  at  the  present  day  among  Christians,  opinions  as 


Their  Pj^esent  State,  225 

to  the  means  and  instruments,  the  ways  and  methods 
of  work,  should  often  be  widely  different.  Nor  must  it 
be  forgotten,  that  every  missionary  field  demands  its 
own  particular  kind  of  treatment.  Eules  universally 
applicable  may  be  established  theoretically,  no  doubt, 
but  not  easily  put  into  practice.  Many  a  good  friend 
of  missions  has,  as  directors  have  more  than 
once  complained,  only  introduced  confusion  by  his 
well-meant  suggestions.  Whoever  has  had  any  deep 
insight  into  the  nature  of  the  difficulties  here,  or 
any  practical  experience  of  them,  will  be  slow 
to  make  new  proposals,  and  certainly  will  avoid 
all  those  which  would  depart  from  methods  now 
become  historical.  In  missions,  as  in  education,  nev/ 
experiments  are,  for  the  most  part,  dearly  bought. 
And  how  often  do  these  arise  from  an  iv^mtience 
which  forgets  that  Dcus  hahet  suas  horas  et  moras, 
and  does  not  enough  keep  to  the  true  path  for  sup- 
port: ''In  quietness  and  in  confidence  shall  be  your 
strength"  ?  Whoever  seeks  to  promote  an  interest  in 
the  kingdom  of  God  at  home,  will  much  aid  its  growth 
abroad.  On  the  local  press,  for  example,  the  friends  of 
missions  might,  and  should,  exercise  a  much  greater 
influence  than  heretofore,  by  sending  in  interesting 
details  written  in  a  Christian  spirit.* 


*  This,  too,  is  the  opinion  of  Warneck,    ''Belebung  des   Mis- 
sionssinnes,"  p.  70. 


2  26         Protestant  Fordo n  IMissii 


^» 


ons 


"With  regard  to  the  relation  of  theology,  more  par- 
ticularly of  practical  theology,  to  missions,  I  shall 
omit  he]:e  all  reference  to  the  great  duty  of  develop- 
ing a  science  of  missions  ;  for,  as  far  as  any  theory  of 
ptrinciples  and  methods  is  concerned,  it  is  still  in  a 
preparatory  state.  The  stones  with  which  to  build 
are,  as  yet,  only  being  collected.  A  systematic  com- 
parison of  missionary  methods  is  at  present  not 
practicable,  inasmuch  as  the  great  proportion  of  the 
necessary  material  has  not  been  gathered ;  and  it  is 
much  to  be  desired,  that  all  the  great  missionary 
societies  would  publish  and  make  accessible  the 
principles  of  their  methods  of  labour,  and  the 
general  rules  which  tliey,  after  lengthened  expe- 
rience, have  thought  proper  to  put  into  the  hands 
of  their  agents.  This,  e.g.,  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,*  the  American  Board,-]-  and  the  American 
Baptist  Missionary  UnionJ  have  begun  to  do.  Only 
thus  can  the  science  of  practical  theology  obtain 
reliable  data  to  go  upon,  and  so  exercise  an  entirely 
different  influence  on  the  development  of  preaching 
and  evangelistic  work  than  it  has  heretofore  done. 

Young  theologians — in  Germany,  at  least — are  apt 

*  See  a  Brief  View  of  the  Principles  and  Proceedings  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  new  edition.  May  1877. 

t  See  Missionary  Tracts,  No.  i  :  " 'J'lic  'J'licory  of  Missions  to 
the  Heathen,"  and  No.  15  :   "  Outline  of  Missionary  Policy,"  &c. 

X  See,  e.g.,  the  Reports  of  a  Special  Committee  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Missionary  Union,  March  and  November  1878. 


Their  Present  State.  227 

to  concentrate  their  attention  on  j)articular  historical 
and  critical  questions  of  detail  of  quite  secondary 
importance ;  indeed,  they  are  often  accustomed  to 
judge  of  the  entire  progress  of  theology  by  the 
newest  little  discovery  or  hypothesis  of  scholars, 
without  ever  having  had  their  attention  called  to  the 
advance  of  the  Church  of  Christ  as  a  whole.  They 
should,  more  than  has  yet  been  done,  have  the  true 
and  broad  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God  set  before 
them,  in  order  that  in  their  ministry  they  may  take 
a  w^armer  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  Gospel, 
and  no  longer  regard  the  assistance  derived  from  the 
congregation  (in  missionary  meetings,  &c.)  as  an  oipus 
siL^ererogationis.  The  command  of  the  Lord  goes 
beyond  even  what  is  laid  down  by  the  forms  of  the 
Church  as  indispensable ! 

In  the  relations  of  the  different  societies  to  each 
other,  many  things  which  have  come  under  my  own 
observation  compel  me  to  express  a  wish — which  I 
would  fain  put  in  the  form  of  an  entreaty — that  tlu 
various  associations  luoulcl  seek  more  than  they  yet 
have  clone  to  learn  from  each  other  !  As  it  is,  none 
sets  an  high  enough  value  on  the  experience  of 
others.  Many  look  for  precedents  nowhere  but  in 
the  pages  of  their  own  history.  Thus  the  disincli- 
nation which  exists  on  the  part  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  England,  to  take  any  special  recognition 
of  the  missionary  literature  and  practices  of  jSTon- 


2  2  8         Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

conformists,  lias  led  to  many  a  failure  and  to  the 
repetition  of  not  a  few  mistakes — mistakes  which 
might  have  taught  valuable  lessons.  And  doubtless 
the  same  thing  has  happened  vice  versa.  Living- 
stone says  of  a  High  Church  missionary  bishop  in 
South  Africa,  "At  home  his  sectarian  prejudices 
seem  to  have  prevented  him  acquiring  any  know- 
ledge of  missionary  work,  and  he  begins  with  a  poor 
savage,  as  pitiably  ignorant  of  native  character,  as 
if  no  one  had  ever  penned  his  experience  in  such 
matters."  * 

A  bishop  of  the  Propagation  Society  some  years  ago 
made  a  journey  into  Swaziland  (South-East  Africa), 
under  the  impression  that  he  was  the  first  who  had 
ever  attempted  to  bring  the  Gospel  within  the  reach 
of  the  stalwart  natives.  He  seemed  never  to  have 
heard  of  the  successful  labours  of  Allison  there, 
or  of  the  travels  of  Meeenskys  and  HARDELANDS.f 
And  since  the  different  societies  neither  know  nor 
care  to  know  much  of  each  other,  can  we  be  sur- 
prised that — ^here  and  there  at  least — their  repre- 
sentatives do  not  always  work  very  cordially  with 
each  other  ? 

In  particular,  the  societies  of  different  lands  take 
remarkahly  little  notice  of  each  other,  especially  when 

*  ''Missionary  Sacrifices,"   the   Catholic   Presbyterian,   No.  i., 
January  1879. 
t  Sec  Allgemeine  Missions-Zcitschrift,  1874,  p.  202. 


Their  Present  State.  229 

diversity  of  language  forms  the  barrier,  the  over- 
coming of  which  is  attended  with  no  little  difficulty 
for  our  good  friends  in  England^  in  spite  of  their 
annual  tours  on  the  Ehine  and  in  Switzerland.  It 
may,  with  nearly  perfect  truth,  be  said  that  what  is 
not  translated  into  their  language,  has  for  them  no 
existence.  Every  society  has,  doubtless,  enough  and 
more  than  enough  to  do  with  itself ;  they  must  all 
of  them  have  their  own  periodicals,  promoting  their 
own  cause  and  reporting  their  own  work.  But, 
surely,  there  is  a  common  interest  for  all.  And  it  is 
therefore  not  unreasonable  to  ask  that,  at  least,  the 
larger  and  more  scientifically  conducted  magazines 
of  the  great  missionary  societies  should  endeavour, 
in  addition  to  chronicling  the  labours  of  their  own 
society  or  denomination,  to  pay  more  attention  to 
Protestant  mission  work  in  general,  in  order  to  open 
the  eyes  of  the  better-educated  Christian  public  to 
its  extent,  and  to  transform  their  sectarian  interest 
into  an  interest  for  the  kingdom  of  God ;  as  in 
Germany  is  done  by  the  "  Evangehsches  Missions- 
Magazin,"  and  the  "  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift." 
But  how  astonishingly  little  attention  have  the 
large  English  missionary  magazines  paid  to  the  labours 
of  Germans  !  I  wish  to  expose  no  one  to  ridicule, 
but  what  exhibitions  of  ignorance  of  all  non- English 
missionary  history  are  often  to  be  found  in  the  mis- 
sionarv  literature  both  of   England  and  America  ! 


230         Protestant  Foreign  JMissions : 

AVhat  is  to  be  said  when,  in  tlie  cataloo'ue  of  literature 
given  in  the  English  General  Missionary  Encyclo- 
paedia, all  mention  of  German  works  is  nearly  com- 
pletely wanting  ?  How  seldom — doubtless  through 
too  great  press  of  work — do  the  secretaries  and 
directors  of  societies  *  endeavour  to  acquire  a  general 
knowledge  of  Protestant  missionary  labours  at  the 
present  day, — which  just  in  their  position  is  so 
desirable  !  The  great  General  Missionary  Con- 
ferences, in  Xew  York,  1854,  then  more  particularly 
in  Liverpool,  London,  Allahabad,  Shanghai,  and 
on  the  European  continent  in  Bremen,  have 
been  the  means  of  effecting  some  improvement  in 
this  direction.  They  have  all  given  cheering  con- 
firmation of  the  fact,  that  increase  of  brotherliness 
among  the  representatives  of  the  different  societies 
is  for  all  of  them  increase  of  strength.-)-  Let  such 
conferences  be  kept  up  at  suitable  intervals,  for 
they  are  a  source  of  blessing  and  encouragement  to 
labourers  both  at  home  and  among  the  heathen.  I 
am  glad  here  to  be  al)le  to  speak  in  commendation 
of  a  practice  prevalent  among  the  directors  of  nearly 
all  the  London  missionary  societies,  that  of  assem- 
bling together  once  a  month  for  prayer  and  exchange 

*  Those  of  the  American  Board,  of  Boston,  form  a  praisewortliy 
exception.     It  is  to  be  hoped  that  there  are  others  still. 

+  Cf.  the  address  delivered  by  the  late  Dr.  Mullens,  "On  the 
Increased  Co-operation  of  Missionary  Agencies,"  Mildmay  Con- 
ference, pp.  22-27  ;  Allgenieine  Missions-Zeitschrift,  1879,  1'-  ^So. 


Their  P^^esent  State.  231 

of  tliouglit  on  questions  connected  with  missionary 
work.  In  this  way  much  controversy  is  either 
avoided  or  nipped  in  the  bud,  and  the  giving  of  undue 
and  offensive  prominence  to  denominational  pecu- 
liarities and  interests  prevented.  Similar  monthly 
reunions  of  missionaries  take  place  in  Madras, 
Calcutta,  and  Bombay. 

With  regard  to  missionary  literature  and  maga- 
zines I  shall  say  but  little,  omitting  many  wishes 
to  which  expression  might  have  been  given.  For  a 
long  time  such  publications  were — and  even  in  some 
places  now  are — behind  the  times  in  outward  form 
and  style, — a  serious  hindrance  to  their  circulation 
among  the  educated  classes.  Their  compilers  have 
been  often  enough  warned  against  all  indulgence 
in  over-colouring,  and  "  the  serving-up  of  sweet- 
meats, which  are  enticing  and  delicate,  but  apt  to 
spoil  the  stomach,"*  and  requested  to  confine  them- 
selves to  the  strictest  moderation  and  ohjectiveness. 
More  especially  in  England  and  America,  it  would 
seem  as  if  such  requests  were  not  superfluous.  All 
endeavour  to  present  only  what  is  full  of  interest 
and  excitement,  besides  lowering  the  taste  of  many 
friends  of  missions  (cf.  the  reading  public  of  America, 
so  greedy  of  sensational  news),  leads  to  the  addition 
of    entirely   uncritical    and    unwarrantable    embel- 

*   See    e.g.,    Graul,    "  Nachrichten   der  Ostindischen   Missions- 
Anstalt,"  1867,  rP-  168-170. 


232         Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

lishments,  which  put  a  dangerous  weapon  into  the 
hand  of  the  enemies  of  missions.  In  the  more  recent 
missionary  narratives  it  is  pleasing  to  observe,  that 
a  decided  advance  has  been  made  on  the  former 
unthinkinsj  enthusiasm  towards  crreater  moderation 
and  calmness.* 

It  is  particularly  to  be  desired,  that  there  should 
be  more,  itniformity  in  the  method  of  dealing  with  the 
tabular  statisties  of  missions.  In  the  compiling  of 
these  very  diverse  principles  prevail  among  the 
various  societies,f  both  as  regards  the  quantity  of 
statistics  given  and  the  manner  of  calculation  and 
classification.  Many  annual  reports  give,  as  a  matter 
of  principle,  no  figures,  while  others  deal  in  them  too 
much.  In  the  first  case  the  labourers  are,  under 
certain  circumstances,  too  little  incited  to  effort ;  in 
the  latter  they  are  strongly  tempted  to  use  every 
exertion,  for  no  other  purpose  tlian  to  increase  their 
numbers  by  a  particular  time  of  every  year.  Would 
it  not  be  better  if  each  society  were  to  draw  up,  say 
every  five  years,  the  exact  statistics,  with  detailed 
reports  of  their  present  condition ;  whilst  in  the 
interval   only   the    more    important   events   of    the 


*  Cf.  Dr.  Kalkar's  observations  in  his  "Gcscliiclite  der  Christ- 
lichen  Mission  unter  den  Heiden,"  recently  published,  Preface  i., 
pp.  iv.-vi. 

t  See  also  Grundemann's  remarks  in  the  collected  documents  of 
the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  New  York,  1873,  j).  592. 


Their  Present  State.  233 

preceding  year  should  be  clironicled  along  with  the 
budget  ? 

Now,  I  have  a  request  to  make  of  several  Methodist 
and  Baptist  societies,  with  respect  to  their  annual 
reports ;  and  in  making  it  I  know  I  am  speaking  the 
mind  of  many  besides  myself.  I  shall  subjoin  it  to 
one  made  on  a  former  occasion,*  which,  however, 
has  yet  to  be  granted.  In  their  reports  there  surely 
should  be  a  sharper  distinction  draivn  between  mis- 
sions in  heathen  lands  and  the  work  of  evangelisation 
in  Christian  countries  !  It  cannot  fail  to  give  offence 
or  cause  pain,  when,  e.g.,  one  page  contains  the  reports 
of  missions  in  New  Zealand  and  Polynesia,  and  the 
next  of  those  in  France  and  Germany ;  or  when 
missions  in  Norway  and  Italy  are  put  between  those 
carried  on  in  Southern  India  and  Japan;  or  when 
A.  B.,  on  the  list  of  agents,  figures  as  a  missionary 
among  the  Zulus  or  Papuans,  and  B.  C,  beside 
him,  as  engaged  in  mission  work  in  Wlirtemberg 
or  Switzerland ! 

It  is  abundantly  evident,  too,  how  important  and 
desirable,  in  the  interest  of  missions,  indeed  for  the 


*  At  the  meeting  of  Alliance  in  New  York,  I  requested  that  they 
should  at  least  appoint  "  the  preachers  and  evangelists,  whom  they 
send  to  Protestant  countries,  to  such  places  where  the  pure  Gospel 
is  not  preached,  where  the  Church  of  the  country  either  does  not 
do  her  duty,  or  else  has  not  as  yet  been  able  to  do  so  for  want  of 
labourers.  Cf.  my  letter  to  the  '  Christlicher  Botschafter '  (Cleve- 
land), dated  January  21,  1874." 


2  34         Protestant  Fo7'cign  Missions: 

whole  character  of  the  Protestant  Churches,  that 
there  should  be  more  uniformity  of  'practice  in 
questions  which  are  neither  confessional  nor  con- 
nected with  any  denominational  peculiarity.  For 
example,  in  the  treatment  of  caste  (see  above),  of 
polygamy,  slavery,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the 
matter  of  baptism,  especially  in  the  case  of  societies 
whose  work  lies  adjacent  to  each  other  in  the  same 
territory.  As,  however,  this,  with  existing  diffe- 
rences in  doG:matic  and  ecclesiastical  views,  is  not 
always  possible,  an  attempt  should  be  made  ami- 
cctbly  to  divide  the  field  of  lahoicr,  and  to  come  to  a 
friendly  understanding  on  that  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  missionary  courtesy,  never  to  encroach  on 
another  society's  sphere  of  labour,  except  when 
called  to  aid  in  drawing  the  Gospel  net.  The 
importance  of  this  principle,  too,  should  be  im- 
pressed on  private  missionaries,  so  that,  by  friendly 
help  and  support,  they  may  lend  at  least  moral  assist- 
ance to  the  labours  of  the  neighbouring  societies. 
Complaints  concerning  the  violation  of  this  prin- 
ciple, chiefly  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Propagation 
Society,  are,  unfortunately,  constantly  to  be  heard. 

A  very  frequent  source  of  distrust  and  misunder- 
standing between  the  representatives  of  the  diffe- 
rent  societies  is  the  ivrong  position  ivhich  a  society 
takes  lip  at  the  commencement  of  its  work  in  a  new 
territory ;    and   this    remark    is   equally    applicable 


Their  Present  State.  235 

to  the  work  of  evangelisation  in  Christian  lands. 
In  a  mission  newly  started,  too  little  attention  is 
often  paid  to  character  in  the  reception  of  Church 
members  and  the  ordination  of  native  agents,  in 
order  that  progress  may  be  as  rapid  as  possible,  and 
that  there  be  some  tangible  results  to  show  to  the 
impatient  friends  at  home.  Individuals  who  have 
been  excluded  from  other  stations,  or  in  some  way 
been  subjected  to  Church  discipline,  flock  around 
the  newly-arrived  missionary,  and  in  a  short  time 
a  whole  congregation  of  such  persons  is  formed. 
Sometimes,  indeed,  those  whose  services  have  been 
dispensed  with  in  other  places,  are  found  here 
occupying  important  positions  to  which  large 
salaries  are  attached.  How  necessary  is  it,  that 
here  there  should  be,  first  of  all,  a  brotherly  un- 
derstanding with  the  representatives  of  the  older 
societies  !  How  much  to  be  desired  here,  as  in 
other  cases,  the  disappearance  of  special  denomina- 
tional interests  heliind  the  one  common  task  of  hring- 
ing,  in  peace  and  without  offence,  salvation  to  the 
heathe7i !  In  other  words,  apart  from  the  gain  to 
any  particular  Church,  without  rivalry  or  spite, 
and  simply  for  the  sake  of  Christ's  kingdom,  to 
rejoice  in  the  successful  progress  of  our  neighbour. 
Is  not  the  injunction  given  specially  to  the  mes- 
sengers of  Christ:  "Look  not  every  man  on  his 
own  things,  but  every  man   also  on  the  things  of 


236         Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

otliers  "  ?  And  whoever  himself,  honestly  and  un- 
selfishly cares  for  the  good  of  others,  best  provides 
for  his  own  interest.  Of  course  each  denomina- 
tion— as  the  history  of  missions  only  too  clearly 
shows — believes  itself,  in  confession,  worship,  and 
constitution,  to  be  relatively  the  most  perfect. 
But  let  none  put  prominently  forw^ard  its  ow^n 
special  cliarisma,  its  peculiar  gifts  and  mission, 
without,  in  Christian  humility  and  modesty,  ac- 
knowdedging,  as  a  Church,  the  limits  of  its  powders 
and  capabilities,  wdiich  may  often  commence  just 
where  those  of  another  denomination  end.  Thus 
it  will  best  learn  what  are  its  needs,  and  what 
its  capacities  for  improvement.*  As  in  a  par- 
liament, the  deputies  are  concerned  not  only  with 
the  particular  interests  of  one  district,  but  with 
those  of  the  whole  country,  so  "  Christ's  repre- 
sentatives," the  missionaries,  must  attend  to  the 
affairs,  not  of  their  own  Church  merely,  but  of  the 
whole  kingdom  of  God.  Ilow^ever  many  the  divi- 
sions, it  is  all  one  army,  under  one  Leader,  and 
against  one  enemy.  Let,  then,  the  directors  of  the 
different  Protestant  societies,  while  retaining,  and 
wdth  perfect  justice,  the  peculiar  advantages  of  their 
own  particular  Church,  seek  to  impress  upon  the 
missionaries  this  idea,  in  order  that,  with  the  neces- 

*  Sec  Christlieb,  "  Dor  Mi.ssionsbcruf  dcs  cvangclisclicn  Deutsch- 
lands,"  pp.  15-32. 


Their  Present  State.  237 

sary  self-assertion  they  may  unite  true  self-denial 
and  careful  consideration  for  others  ! 

But  true  Protestant  liberality  towards  our  fellow- 
soldiers  *  stands  intimately  connected — as  has  for- 
merly been  hinted — with  wisdom  in  teaching  and 
respect  for  the  national  character  and  customs  of  the 
heathen,  so  far  as  these  are  justifiable.  Missionaries 
must  learn,  more  than  they  yet  have  done,  to  accom- 
modate the  worship  and  constitution  of  their  own 
denomination  to  the  peculiar  genius  and  ivants  of  the 
people  among  whom  they  lahour.  These  they  must 
endeavour  to  satisfy  first,  and  not  the  sectarian 
fanatics  at  home,  who  would  at  any  price  make 
all,  even  the  smallest  detail,  incumbent  on  the 
converts.  It  may,  after  a  time,  become  abundantly 
evident  that,  from  its  natural  disposition,  history, 
customs,  and  habits  of  life,  one  heathen  people  may 
be  inwardly  predisposed  to  this  kind  of  Protestant 
worship,  another  to  that,  whilst  for  a  third  a  special 
ecclesiastical  form  or  combination  of  forms  must  be 
introduced.f     And  here  it  is  that  the  divisions  of 


*  It  is  very  cheering  to  hear  that  the  Lutheran  mission,  too,  ex- 
horts to  this,  e.g.,  "  N'achrichten  der  Ostindischen  Miss.-Anstalt  zu 
Halle,"  1877,  p.  13:  "Teach  Lutheran  friends  of  missions  to 
rejoice  in  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  the  wide  earth, 
whoever  it  be  that  preaches  Christ ;  that  is  true  liberality  and 
manysidedness." 

t  Cf.  e.g.,  the  peculiar  combination  of  a  Congregationalistic  and 
Presbyterian  constitution  in  the  numerous  mission  congregations 
of  the  American  Board  in  Turkey.     See  above. 


238        Protestant  Foreign  Missions: 

the  Protestant  CkiLrclu  and  its  missions  again  turn 
out  to  he  a  blessing.  The  manifold  variety  of  our 
Clmrcli  forms  enables  us  to  meet  the  most  diverse 
Iteculiarilies  and  wants  of  lieathen  peoples,  if  we 
possess  wisdom  and  self-denial  enough  to  give  to 
each  the  Gospel  in  the  form  which  best  suits  it, 
with  the  liberty  necessary  for  its  development.  Let 
every  section,  then,  of  the  Protestant  Churcli  seek 
(nit  the  field  of  labour  to  wliich  it  is  best  adapted, 
and  to  which,  therefore,  it  has  a  special  vocation ! 
The  different  denominations,  with  their  manifold 
gifts  and  graces,  and  without  renouncing  any  of 
their  distinctive  principles,  will  tlien,  in  Irotherly 
co-operation,  form  one  great  imperial  army,  able  to 
conduct  a  mission  truly  oecumenical  and  wide  as  the 
uiuverse.  For  the  promise  of  extension  throughout 
the  world  and  eternal  duration  was  not  given  to  this 
Church  or  to  that,  but  to  the  one  pure  Gospel. 

But  what  we  require  is  more  quality,  than  quan- 
tity, in  the  missionaries  sent  out.  And  this,  even 
as  regards  the  (pieslion  of  funds,  remains  the  chief 
requisite  for  the  future.  A  few  self-sacrificing 
missionaries,  full  of  tlie  Spirit  of  God,  with  a  keen 
penetration  and  a  firm  will,  coming  amongst  a  people 
wliom,  in  spile  of  tlioir  errors,  they  bear  on  their 
liearts  in  love, — such  are  of  more  value,  and  obtain 
more  enduring  results,  tlian  a  great  many  less 
cajjable !     And,  as  men  somewhat  after  the  stamp 


Tlici)'  Present  S/i^/r.  239 

of  i\\(\  ;ij){)Sl1('s,  llu'V  will  i)()ssoss  Nvisddiii  and  (act 
enough  to  respect  the  ixH-iiliurities  ol"  Uu!  natives, 
iiiul,  from  the  very  lirst,  to  insist  only  on  Avluit  is 
ahsohitely  necessary;  k.avint^-,  among  a  ])eo])le  with 
its  entiri'ly  justiliaMe  pi-ejudiccs,  in  non-csscnl  iais 
room  for  the  development  of  a,  ( 'liiist  iaii  ('liiircli, 
wliieh  will  contribute;  to  {\\v.  glory  of  the  one  lilessed 
Lord.  lint  i'uither,  and  this  remains  our  other 
cdcTitm  comco,  more  i^specially  in  llu!  case  ol' 
(German  missions,  inasnnich  as  tlie  liealhen-(Mii'is- 
tiau  communities  form  a  s])ecial  liid<  in  the  chain  of 
parent  and  lilial  ehurehes  for  all  tinu;  (doming,  the 
juissionaries  will  inc(!ssaiitly  nrge  the  necessity  of 
ainiiiKj  at  sc/J'-sK/rpor/,  hoth  as  regards  mciaiis  and 
native  tah-nt.  Thus  the  work  of  evangelisation, 
introduced  fi'oni  without,  will  heeonie  indigenous, 
and  s(df-suppoi't  gradually  ])a,ve  tin;  wa,y  for  scdf- 
extension  by  juissionary  operations  conducted  with- 
out any  exti'aneous  aid. 

Yes,  th(;  present  is,  tJiank  (Jod!  (t  cciiliiri/  of 
missions,  such  as  never  lias  Ixmhi.  In  it  the  age 
of  'world-inidc  missions  luis  begun.  More  than  all 
generations  on  whose  dust  we  ti'cad,  can  W(i  to-day 
take  up  the  psalm,  "  All  the  ends  oi'  the  eaiih  have 
seen  the;  salvation  of  our  (Jod  !" 

"  I  have,"  said  the  licv.  ]\lr.  I'MiKlluiiST,  after  lie 
had  made  a,  journey  round  the  world,  "  nowhere  seen 
a  /tr//'  heathen  teni[)le ;   they    have;   been   all    old    and 


240        Protestant  Foreign  Missions : 

dilapidated."  Wliat  cheering  news  tins  for  the 
friends  of  missions!  But  how  great  the  responsi- 
hility  resting  at  such  a  time  on  tlie  Churches  at 
home  which  God  has  so  highly  lionoured,  that  He 
has  thrown  wide  open  the  gates  to  them,  trusting 
that  the  present  generation  of  Christians  would  hear 
Ilis  voice,  understand  His  meaning,  and  follow ! 
And  however  ample  may  seem  the  forces,  and 
the  whole  present  staff  of  workers,  which  Pro- 
testant Christendom  employs  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  her  work,  it  stands  to  the  onagnitude  of  the 
task*  to  the  tliousand  millions  of  unconverted 
heathens  and  Mohammedans  in  an  eveT-vanishing 
proportion  ! 

As  lately  Mr.  Fleming  Stevenson,  the  missionary 
secretary  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church,  after  his 
return  from  a  circumnavigation  of  the  globe,  and  an 
inspection  of  all  the  principal  mission  fields,  ex- 
claimed, with  deep  emotion,  at  a  great  meeting, 
"  If  only  people  would  think  of  the  tremendous 
magnitude  of  the  mission  work  to  these  people, — 
the  Brahmins,  the  Buddhists,  the  Mohammedans, — 
with  all  their  power  of  culture,  with  all  their  literary 
attainments,  and  with  their  ingenuity  and  subtlety, 
tlioy  would  never  liave  dreamed  of  fighting  them 
with   those  slight   forces   which   all   the   Churches 

*  Sec,  too,  tlie  treatise,  "  The  Wide  Work  iiiid  Great  Claims  of 
Modem  Protestant  Missions,"  Mildmay  Conference,  p.  407,  sqq. 


Their  Present  State.  241 

together  sent  out."  *  Let  us  carry  away  from  our 
wide  survey  tliis  rebuke  for  our  lukewarmness  and 
neglectfulness  in  the  cause  of  missions  ! 

One  more  incentive,  in  view  of  the  condition  of 
matters  at  home.  The  preaching  of  the  kingdom 
throughout  the  heathen  world  is  accompanied  with 
the  decline  of  faith  in  Christendom.  That  word  of 
the  Lord,  "This  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be 
preached  in  all  the  world  for  a  witness  unto  all 
nations  ;  and  then  shall  the  end  come  "  (Matt,  xxiv.), 
follows  directly  on  the  mention  of  the  false  pro- 
phets who  shall  deceive  many,  the  abounding  ini- 
quity and  the  love  of  many  that  shall  wax  cold.  If 
these  two  things, — the  spread  of  belief  without  and 
the  declension  of  faith  and  love  in  many  places 
witliin, — be  becoming  increasingly  characteristic  of 
our  age,  then  ive  need  missions  more  than  ever,  as 
the  justification  of  Christianity  in  the  times  ijreceding 
the  end.  The  weapon  of  attack  is  at  the  same  time 
the  shield  that  defends.  Missions,  that  is  to  say, 
the  embodied  courage  of  the  Church,  the  touchstone 
of  her  faith,  of  her  unchanging  hope, — missions, 
the  ivorlcl-sulduing  Christianity  of  deed,  of  witness- 
bearing,  of  self-sacrificing  love, — are  their  own  hest 
apology.     And   therefore  we  need  them  ever  more 


*  See  the  Transactions  of  tlie  United  Presbj'terian  Synod  in 
Scotland,  1879  ;  e.g.,  Daily  Review,  May  8,  1879,  p.  6. 

Q 


242        Pj'otestant  Foreign  Missions  : 

and  more,  to  confirm  the  truth  of  the  promises  of 
Scripture  and  tlms  repel  the  attacks  on  the  Divine 
AVord.  All  mere  earthly  wisdom,  wisdom  according 
to  the  flesh,  be  it  that  which  makes  a  God  of  this 
world  and  of  life,  or  that  which  despairs  of  both  ; 
all  speculation  of  the  mere  present,  of  pride  and 
selfishness, — of  all  this,  missions  must  help  to  dis- 
cover the  foolishness,  as  they  must  aid  in  unanswer- 
ably proving  the  superiority  of  the  Gospel  and  a 
true  Christian  culture  to  all  human  means  of  edu- 
cation. Yes,  missions  are,  under  the  guidance  of 
God,  destined  to  solve  many  problems  which 
have  puzzled  politicians.  What  contributes  most 
to  the  solution  of  the  dark  Indian  question  in 
America? — The  Gospel  and  missions.  What  will 
most  completely  clear  up  the  Oriental  question' 
and  those  relating  to  East  India  and  China,  be- 
ginning to  appear  behind  it?  —  The  Gospel  and 
missions,  the  spirit  of  Christ,  that  is,  tlie  spirit 
of  serving,  saving,  life-giving  love ! 

And  it  is  high  time  that  Christendom  should 
more  generally  be  aware  of  this,  and  that  all  colonial 
governments  at  last  come  to  see  how  their  former 
— in  some  places  still  existing — indifference,  or  even 
hostility  towards  missions,  has  brought  npon  them 
the  heavy  loss  of  influence  and  respect,  yes,  of  men 
and  money,  which  a  decidedly  Christian  and  sym- 
pathetic bearing  towards  missions  would  have  saved 


Their  Present  State.  243 

them.  If  we  believe  in  the  destroying  power  of 
sin,  we  will  not  deny  that  the  heathen,  the  longer 
they  are  left  to  themselves,  must  only  sink  the 
deeper.  Many  tribes  are  dying  out,  not  a  few  are 
already  extinct,  and  their  death  is  a  heavy  charge 
against  a  missionless  Christianity. 

But  along  with  those  rebukes  and  incentives  to 
zeal  in  the  cause  of  the  kingdom,  let  us  take  to 
ourselves  the  great  consolation  also,  tliat  to-day,  as 
never  before,  the  work  is  advancing ;  that  the  Lord, 
in  many  places,  is  opening  up  more  plainly  than 
ever  a  way  for  His  cause,  and  is  even  using  our 
errors  for  its  promotion.  The  nearer  the  end  comes, 
the  more  rapid  the  advance.  And  when  missions 
shall  have  embraced  the  world,  then  will  be  "the 
last  days."  If  in  the  history  of  missions  there 
have  been  times  when  the  consummation,  long  pre- 
pared for,  was  seen  to  hasten,  as  if  in  mockery  of  its 
former  slowness, — in  our  age  of  universal  missions 
it  wdll  be  seen,  ever  more  widely,  that  the  long  and 
laborious  process  of  undermining  the  chief  strong- 
holds of  heathenism,  tuill  one  day  be  followed  by  « 
great  crash.  It  is  not  for  us  to  speak  of  seasons 
but  may  we  not  say,  in  view  not  only  of  the  South 
Seas  and  America,  but  also  of  Africa,  India,  China, 
and  Japan,  that,  in  spite  of  our  many  faults  and 
weaknesses,  we  are  approaching  a  time  when  a 
liar  vest   ivill    be  gathered,   which    ivill    be    infinitely 


244  Protestant  Foreign  Missions. 

greater  iJian  cinythinrj  hitherto  secured !  Yet  a 
little  while  and  the  day  will  break ;  already  the 
shadows  flee  and  the  sky  reddens  to  the  dawn  ! 

And,  for  our  own  encouragement,  in  prayer  and 
in  confidence  we  wonld  call  aloud  to  the  heathen 
world : — 

"  Arise,  shine ;  for  thy  light  is  come,  and  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  thee  !  "  Yea,  "  the 
Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  Come  !  And  let  him  that 
heareth  say,  Come  !  Amen.  Even  so,  come,  Lord 
Jesus ; " 


I X  D  E  X. 


A  BETH,  149 

Abeokuta,  no,  in 
Accara,  109 
Adangme,  109 
Agra,  78 
Ain-tab,  147 
Akem,  no 
Akuapem,  no 
Allahabad,  2 
Allison,  Mr.,  228 
Amazon,  106 
Amboyna,  Sy 
Amoy,  202 
Anderson,  Dr.,  ;^S 
Angola,  in 
Anka,  102 
Antigua,  103 
Aru,  87 

Earth,  Dr.,  24 
Bedouins,  151 
Bengel,  60 
Benguela,  in 
Betjuaus,  115 
Beyrout,  147,  149 
Blantyre,  123 
Blythswood,   117 
Bonn,  80 


Brahmo-Samadsli,  194 

Brecklum,  59 

Brown,  Mr.,  129 

Brunot,  Hon.  F.  R,,  96,  97 

Bulgaria,  146 

Burns,  William,  76 

Buss,  6S,  70 

Caffres,  115 
Cairo,  144,  145,  146 
Calabar,  107 
Caldwell,  Bishop,  163 
Cape  Colony,  1 1 3 
Carey,  Dr.,  II 
Carolina,  loi 
Cashmere,  169 
Ceylon,  158 
Clark,  Dr.,  143 
Cologne  Gazette 
Comorin,  Cape 
Corsico,  108 
Crowther,  Bishop,  1 1 1 
Cuddapah,  160 

Dahomey,  King,  in 

Damietta 

Danish  Wf  sfc  Indies,  103 

Darwin,  Mr.,  49,  79,  88 


246 


Indi 


ex. 


Demerara,  102 

Depok,  87 

DaflF,  Dr.,  12 

Duflferin,  Lord,  95 

Duke  of  York  Island,  129 

Duncan,  W.,  94 

Dutch  Reformed  Church,  40 

Ebenezer  Station,  85 

Edinburgh  Med.  Mission,  76 

Erskine,  Dr. 

Erzeroom,  147 

Established  Church  (Scottish)  33 

Faber,  Dr.,  209 
Fairfield  (Jamaica),  103 
Falkland  Islands,  105 
Fish  University,  100,  109 
Fourah  Bay  College,  108 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  34 
French  M  ssionary  Societies,  6 
Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  117,  178 
Frere  Town,  122 

Gaboon,  ioS 

Gambia,  107 

Gaza,  151 

Garland,  88 

Ghonds,  171 

Gilbert  Island,  90 

Gippsland,  85 

Gobat,  Bishop,  151 

Goeking,  Dr.,  79 

Gold  Coast,  64 

Gordon,  Sir  A.,  91 

Grant,  President,  97 

Greenland,  6 

Guiness,  Mr.  Grattau,  59 


Hakkas,  201 

Halle,  50 

Hamadan,  152 

Harput,  147 

Hereroland,  112 

Honduras,  103 

Hong-Kong  Foundling  House,  82 

India,  158,  &c. 

Jaffa,  151,  155 

Jenkins,  Mr,,  149 

Jessup,  Dr.,  149 

Jesuits,  loi 

Johnstone,  Mr.,  180 

Journals  of  Med.  Miss.  Society,  77 

Jubilee  Singers,  100 

Judson,  Dr.,  112 

Kaiserswertii,  151 

Kalkar,  232 

Karenes,  164 

Kemp,  Dr.  Van  der,  22 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  194 

Ki,  87 

Kolhs,  164,  167,  169 

Koran,  The,  144 

Ko-Tha-Byu,  166 

Kurds,   156 

Ladies'  Missionary  Society,  80,  8r 

Lady  Huntingdon  Connection,  28 

Laos,  195 

Lebanon,  Mount,  148 

Legge,  Dr.,  197,  198,  200,  208 

Leupolt,  10,  173.  174 

Livingstone,  12,-74,  '-3.  128,  22S 

Livingstonia,  12 

Lovedale  Institute,  117 

Lytton,  Lord,  i8i 


Index. 


247 


Macleay  Point,  85 
Magdeburg  Journal,  49 
Maharatta,  160 
Malacca,  195 
Man  delay,  167 
Mangalore,  183 
Maoris,  the,  85,  '?i6 
Marash,  147 
Marquesas,  90 
Marshall  Island,  90 
Martyn,  Henry,  75 
Mayer,  Dr.,  126 
M'Carthy,  Mr.,  207 
M'Leod,  Dr.  Norman,  195 
Meinicke,  88 
Menelek,  King,  126 
Menzaleh,  125 
Milne,  209 

Mitchell,  Dr.  M.,  179,  1S3 
Mombas,  122 
Morrison,  209 
Mozambique,  in 
Mullens,  Dr.,  31,  124,  230 
Miiller,  Max,  49,  82,  195 
Murdoch,  Dr.,  167 
Mysore,  163 


Nagpore,  167 
Namaqualand,  112 
Nanking,  196 
Nellore,  162,  164 
Nez  Perces,  98 
Kias,  88 
Niger,  in 
Ningpo,  203 
Northbrook,  Lord,  32 
Norway,  41 


Oberlander,  Dr.,  88 
Orumiah,  152 
Ovampoland,  112 

Parkhurst,  Mr.,  239 
Patteson,  Bishop,  92,  137 
Pegu,  164 
Fongas,  107 
Popo,  no 
Punjaub,  7,  152 
Puutis,  the,  201 

Quakers,  the,  148 

Ramahyuk,  85 
Ramauath,  163 
Rangoon,  167 
"  Reservations,"  97,  sqq. 
Russo-Turkish  War,  156 

Santals,  173 

Saramacca,  102 

Sargent,  Bishop,  162,  183 

Schwartz,  Dr.,  177 

Schwaziland,  22  8 

Secundra,  82 

Senegambia,  107 

Siam,  195 

Sidon,  149 

Sier,  152 

Sindh,  169 

Slave  Coast,  109,  no 

Sofala,  ni 

Spurgeon,  Mr.,  75 

Stanley,  Mr.,  123,  124 

Stevenson,  Mr.  F.,  210,  240 

Sumatra,  88 

Syrian  Schools,  147 

Swatow,  201 


48 


Index. 


Tabreez,  152 
Tahiti,  89 

Taylor,  Hudson,  198 
Teheran,  152 
Temple,  Sir  R.,  181 
Thibet,  172 
Thompson,  Dr.,  139 
Thompson,  Mrs.,  148 
Tientsin,  196 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  105 
Tinnevelly,  162,  183 
Tonga,  89 
Travancore,  163 
Tripoh,  149] 

Unitarians,  37 

United  Presbyterians,  59 

University  Mission,  51,  59 


Vaal,  116 

Van,  147 

Vaud  Free  Church,  59 

Vincent,  St.,  103 

Wanika,  122 

Waitz,  88 

Weitbrecht,  Mrs.,  186,  187 

Wetter,  88 

Williams,  Pfr.,  175,  176,  183,  184 

AVimmera,  85 

Wurm,  Dr.,  71 

Yedo,  218 
Yokohama,  216,  218 
Yoruba,  no 

Zahle,  149 


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5 


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6 


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